480531170

540
L3
象
SHŌ, ZŌ
elephant, image
12 strokes
SHŌCHŌsymbol
INSHŌimpression
ZŌGEivory
OBI ; seal . Pictograph of elephant. Schuessler
takes other meanings such as ‘image’ as repre-
541
照
SHŌ, teru/rasu
illuminate, shine
L3
13 strokes
SANSHŌreference
TAISHŌcontrast
terikaeshireflector
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Has 8 ‘flames,
fire’ in its modified bottom-of-graph form,
542
賞
SHŌ
prize, praise
L3
15 strokes
SHŌHINprize
SHŌSAN praise
ITTŌSHŌfirst prize
Bronze ; seal . Has 10 ‘shell, shell currency’
and 1491 (early meanings ‘smoke
543
L3
臣
7
SHINKAvassal
SHINMIN subjects
DAIJINminister
SHIN, JIN
retainer, subject,
minister
strokes
OBI ; seal . Depicts eye with exaggeratedly
large pupil. Taken to mean ‘eyeball’, with senses
such as ‘servant, retainer’ typically treated as
loan usages (Mizukami, Katō, Yamada, Ogawa).
senting separate word having same pronunciation
in early Chinese as that for ‘elephant’. Use of
in the sense ‘image’ is a loan use. The graph
762 ‘image’ (distinguish from ) was devised later.
KJ1970:542; MS1995:v2:1222-3; AS2007:534-5;
YK1976:331-2. Suggest taking upper part as ears
and trunk, lower part legs and tail.
Mnemonic: IMAGE OF ELEPHANT IS TRUNK,
FLAPPY EARS, LEGS AND TAIL
and 331 (qv) as semantic and phonetic,
meaning ‘bright’, to give ‘bright flames’; Katō
takes the associated sense as ‘rise’ as well as
‘bright’, referring to flames burning bright and
also rising up high. OT1968:624; KJ1970:607;
YK1976:276.
Mnemonic: BRIGHT FLAMES SHINE AND
ILLUMINATE
rises’, ‘high’; now meaning ‘moreover’, ‘esteem’).
possibly has a semantic role in terms of ‘high’
(achievement), but here it is mainly a phonetic
with associated sense ‘bestow’, to give ‘bestow
shell currency/valuables’ (on someone meritorious);
by extension, ‘prize; praise’. KJ1970:545-6;
MS1995:v2:1246-7; YK1976:277.
Mnemonic: MOREOVER, SHELLS ARE PRAISED
AS PRIZES
Schuessler, by contrast, treats the abstract senses
as extended usage with a basic meaning ‘one
who watches and looks after things on behalf of
higher authority’, and hence the range in status
from ‘servant’ through to ‘minister’. Distinguish
from 1209 (‘huge, giant’), though this may
be helpful as a mnemonic, taking the extra two
short strokes as eyelashes. MS1995:v2:1084-5;
KJ1970:130; YK1976:286; OT1968:829;
AS2007:468.
Mnemonic: SQUARE-EYED GIANT WITH
EYELASHES IS A RETAINER
544
信
SHIN
Bronze ; seal . Has 118 ‘words, speech’,
trust, believe
and 41 ‘person’, the latter element being
L3
9 strokes
taken as phonetic with associated sense ‘pile
up, accumulate’, to give ‘words spoken pile
SHIN’YŌtrust
up on (= correspond to) inner thoughts’, and
MEISHIN superstition
hence ‘sincerity; believe’ (Yamada, Katō). Katō
KAKUSHINconviction
and Mizukami consider that may be in error
182 The 200 Fourth Grade Characters
for (49 ‘thousand’), but even so the latter is