480531170

1297
L1
玄
GEN
occult, black
5 strokes
GENMYŌmystery
GENKANporch
kurōto* expert, pro
Bronze ; seal . Distinct from 29 (later
sense: ‘fine/delicate threads’, and by extension
‘fine, small’) at the seal stage, but quite
possibly and were the same graph at
the bronze stage, depicting intertwined silk
threads. Katō regards the two as originally
the same, taking the bronze form as depicting
two silk threads intertwined, and the seal
form as a lower part indicating ‘fine threads’
with an upper part representing a cover,
giving ‘fine threads hardly visible’; by extension,
‘dark, black’, and by further extension
‘profound’ and by still further extension ‘occult’.
An alternative view takes as the end of a
fine thread () just visible above a line (),
giving ‘hang down’ (Tōdō). This too may have
led to ‘obscure’ and thus similarly to ‘profound’
and ‘occult’. Several other commentators see
the sense ‘black’ deriving from an original
projected meaning of ‘dyed black thread’ for
(Gu, Shirakawa). KJ1970:32-3; TA1965:611;
GY2008:190-91; SS1984:268.
Mnemonic: TWISTED BLACK THREAD
SYMBOLISES OCCULT
1298
L1
弦
GEN, tsuru
(bow)string
8 strokes
SEIGENsine (of angle)
yumizurubowstring
GENGAKKI stringed instrument
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Has 107
‘bow’, and 1297 (originally, depiction of
twisted threads, now meaning ‘occult, black’)
taken in one view as phonetic with associated
1299
舷
GEN, funabata
ship’s side, gunwale
L1
11 strokes
GENMONgangway
UGENstarboard
GENSŌ porthole
sense ‘attach, hang’, thus giving ‘attach to both
ends of bow’, i.e. ‘bowstring’ (Katō). Alternatively,
here is taken as ‘thread’, with both
semantic and phonetic functions, also giving
‘bowstring’, a sense which was later generalized
to ‘string’, encompassing such things as
strings on musical instruments (Gu, Ogawa).
KJ1970:388-9; GY2008:748; OT1968:339.
Mnemonic: BOW HAS STRING OF TWISTED
BLACK THREAD
A late, post-Shuowen graph. Has 1450
‘boat’ (originally a pictograph), and 1297
(originally, depiction of twisted threads, now
meaning ‘occult, black’) as phonetic, probably
with associated sense ‘attach, hang’ as with
1298 ‘strings’, giving ‘boat parts attached/hanging’,
i.e. ‘gunwales, sides of a boat’. GY2008:1281;
OT1968:838.
Mnemonic: A SHIP WITH BLACK SIDES
1300
股
KO, mata, momo
thigh, crotch
L1
8 strokes
futamatabifurcation, fork
futomomo(plump) thigh(s)
KOKŌ right-hand man
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 209
‘flesh, body, meat’, and 170 (originally, hand
holding stick or similar weapon, meaning ‘beat’)
as phonetic with associated sense ‘straddle’,
giving extended sense ‘crutch; thighs’ (Ogawa).
GY2008:678; OT1968:817,545.
Mnemonic: BEAT FLESHY THIGHS
386 The Remaining 1130 Characters