480531170

419
L3
役
YAKU, EKI
role, service, duty
7 strokes
YAKUNINfunctionary
YAKUSHAactor
HEIEKImilitary service
OBI ; bronze ; seal . Typically analyzed
as 131 ‘go/walk’, with 170 ‘hand holding
big stick’, to give overall sense ‘travel round with
stick’. Shirakawa treats the stick as ritualistic,
and Ogawa sees it as a symbol of authority to
420
L4
421
L4
薬
YAKU, kusuri
medicine, drug
16 strokes
YAKKYOKUpharmacy
KAYAKUgunpowder
kusuriyubiring finger
由
5
YURAIderivation
RIYŪreason
JIYŪfreedom
YU, YŪ, yoshi
reason, means, way,
from
strokes
Seal . Etymology disputed. Katō and Yamada
treat as originally same graph as 169 (later
divergence in shape), showing basket/bag for
pressing out liquid in wine-making. Shirakawa
sees early forms of as the same as for 卣
422
L3
油
YU, abura
oil
8 strokes
YUDENoil field
TŌYUkerosene
aburaEoil painting
OBI ; seal . Etymology disputed. Yamada
and also Matsushima list OBI forms; Yamada
takes as 42 water/liquid, with 421 (‘reason’)
as phonetic with associated sense unknown
because originally it stood for a proper noun
(river name). On the basis of the seal form, Katō
give warnings. This is appropriate for the seal
form, but not older forms. The OBI and bronze
equivalents of this graph have not but either
two persons, or one person who – in some
cases – is kneeling: in combination with ,
this gives the overall meaning ‘forced work/
labor’ (Mizukami, Katō, Schuessler). Often
the work appears to have been of a military
nature. YK1976:474-5; KJ1970:88; SS1984:827;
OT1968:346; AS2007:568.
Mnemonic: GO OFF WITH STICK IN HAND TO
DO ONE’S DUTY
Bronze ; seal ; traditional . Has 53
plant/grass and 98 (qv, originally ‘oak tree’
or type of musical instrument, later loaned for
‘music; pleasure’), here serving as phonetic
with associated sense ‘heal, cure’. The bronze
form lacks the element 69 ‘white’, which may
represent an acorn (see 98). MS1995:v2:1136-7;
KJ1970:874; YK1976:475-6.
Mnemonic: MEDICINAL PLANT GIVES PLEASURE
(‘small-necked wine jar’), which he takes as
initially showing a fleshy gourd that produced a
form of oil (see 422 ‘oil’). Ogawa also treats
卣 and as having same early forms. Differences
in analysis of early forms of reflect
difficulties often found in deciding which old
forms correspond to which modern graphs. The
abstract meanings for such as ‘from’ may be
taken as loan usages. KJ1970:24; YK1976:476;
SS1984:829; OT1968:669,144. Take as 63
‘field’ and l as a drill.
Mnemonic: THERE’S A REASON FOR THE
DRILL IN THE FIELD (see 422 below)
agrees, regarding the meaning ‘oil’ as a loan
usage. Shirakawa, though, treats as ‘water/
liquid’ with as semantic and phonetic
meaning ‘oil’, regarding (early form of) as
the original way of writing . Ogawa gives
another alternative, treating as , with
as phonetic with associated sense ‘extract’. Tōdō
also includes in word-family meaning ‘extract’,
but regards ‘oil’ as loan use of . YK1976:476-
7; KJ1970:886; SS1984:829; OT1968:570,669;
TA1965:185-9.
Mnemonic: THE REASON IS THAT THE LIQUID
IN THE FIELD IS OIL (see 421 above)
148 The 200 Third Grade Characters