480531170

749
製
SEI
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 444
manufacture
‘clothing, cloth’, and 744 (‘system, control’;
L3
14 strokes
originally, ‘cut tree systematically with blade instruments’)
as semantic and phonetic for ‘cut’, to
SEIZŌmanufacture
give ‘cut cloth and make a garment’. Sense was
SEIHINmanufactured item
then generalized to ‘make (an item)’, not just
NIHONSEImade in Japan
clothing. KJ1970:598; YK1976:305; OT1968:907.
Mnemonic: SYSTEM FOR MANUFACTURING
CLOTHING.
750
税
ZEI
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 87 ‘grain’,
tax, tithe
and / (NJK, originally person, looking up
L3
12 strokes
and speaking) as phonetic with associated
sense ‘divide and take’, to give ‘take enough
ZEIKINtax
harvested grain for tax’; later generalised to ‘tax,
KANZEIcustoms duty
tithe’. YK1976:306-7; OT1968:733; KJ1970:602-3;
SHOTOKUZEIincome tax
Suggest as ‘elder brother’ 114 with 70,
here ‘away’.
Mnemonic: ELDER BROTHER GIVES AWAY
GRAIN TAX
751
L3
責
SEKI, semeru
liability, blame
11 strokes
SEKININresponsibility
JISEKIself-reproach
SEKIMUduty
OBI ; seal . Has 10 ‘shell/currency,’ and
883 (NJK, usually taken as ‘thorn’, but note
corresponding OBI forms look like artefact with
barb-like tip); latter element is usually taken
as phonetic with assoc sense ‘count up and
request’ > ‘money is requested’ from debtor; Mizukami
notes alternative view that takes as
both semantic and phonetic, to give ‘harass (the
debtor) like stabbing with a thorn’. Calling debtor
to account may have given rise to ‘blame’ as
extended sense. Schuessler also notes meaning
‘hold responsible’. MS1995:v2:1232-4,v1:644-5;
KJ1970:614; YK1976:309; AS2007:602. Modern
form has variant of 44 ‘life’ as top element,
but we suggest ‘odd’ variant of 315 ‘master’.
Mnemonic: BLAME ODD MASTER WITH
MONEY WHO HAS MANY LIABILITIES
752
L3
績
SEKI
achievement, spin
17 strokes
SEISEKIresult
GYŌSEKIachievements
BŌSEKIspinning
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 29
‘thread’ (Katō and Yamada consider ‘thread’
here to be hemp thread), and 751 (originally,
‘money requested’; ‘liability’, now ‘blame’) as
phonetic with associated sense ‘link, join up’
(Katō, Yamada), to give ‘join up thread; spin’.
Ogawa takes the associated sense of as ‘accumulate’,
giving ‘accumulate thread’ – a little
awkward but helps explain ‘achievements’ as
an extended sense. KJ1970:614; YK1976:310;
OT1968:790.
Mnemonic: BLAME THREADS FOR POOR
ACHIEVEMENTS IN SPINNING
The 185 Fifth Grade Characters 239