480531170

item’ (Ogawa, Katō), or – originally – ‘beard of
wheat’ (Gu). The latter analysis gives ‘sharp’
as an extended sense, deriving from the fact
that a beard of wheat is the bristly material
surrounding the kernel, and also reminding
us that the ancients were so much more
closely in touch with nature than we are
today. GY2008:491,1443; AS2007:219,586;
OT1968:1043; KJ1970:602-4. Suggest as
‘elder brother’ 114, as ‘away’ 70, and as
‘money’.
Mnemonic: ELDER BROTHER IS ALWAYS SHARP
WHEN MONEY IS GIVEN AWAY
1045
疫
EKI, YAKU
epidemic
L1
9 strokes
BŌEKIdisinfection
AKUEKIplague
KEN’EKIquarantine
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 404
‘sick-bed, sickness’, and ‘strike’ 170, here
taken as abbreviation of 419 (‘role,
service’) as phonetic with associated sense
taken as i] ‘go round’, giving ‘sickness which
goes round’, or ii] ‘disaster, calamity’; either
view gives overall meaning ‘epidemic’.
KJ1970:87-8; SS1984:49; OT1968:677. Take
as ‘strike’.
Mnemonic: NEED SICK-BED WHEN EPIDEMIC
STRIKES
1046
L1
悦
ETSU
joy
10 strokes
KIETSUjoy
ETSURAKUenjoyment
MAN’ETSUdelight
Late, post-Shuowen graph; traditional form
has 553 (‘shaman’) as right-hand element.
Graph has 164 ‘heart, feelings’, with
(interpretations include ‘be glad’ [Gu,
Schuessler], ‘one who pleases the deities’
[Ogawa], ‘shaman’ [Katō]), here as semantic
and phonetic, giving ‘one’s heart is glad;
rejoice’. Shirakawa interprets similarly
here, i.e. ‘pray to the deities and be in ecstasy’.
OT1968:371; KJ1970:602; GY2008:491,1141;
AS2007:219,586; SS1984:52. Take as ‘elder
brother’ 114, as ‘out’ 70.
Mnemonic: ELDER BROTHER GIVES OUT
FEELINGS OF JOY
1047
越
ETSU, koeru/su
cross, exceed, excel
L2
12 strokes
YŪETSUsuperiority
EKKYŌborder violation
oikosuovertake
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has ‘run’ 179,
and (‘ax-like weapon’, ‘halberd’, see 476/545)
as phonetic with associated sense ‘leap, leap
up, straddle’, giving ‘leap up and cross, cross
over’. KJ1970:96-7; OT1968:967; TA1965:637;
AS2007:596.
Mnemonic: RUN WITH HALBERD TO CROSS
THE BORDER
The Remaining 1130 Characters 317