480531170

1634
L1
曹
SŌ, ZŌ
official, companion
11 strokes
HŌSŌlawyer
GUNSŌsergeant
ZŌSHIcadet
OBI ; seal . Views diverge. In one view, the
OBI has 22 ‘mouth, speak’, and 㯥 (tentative
meaning: ‘sunrise, dawn’ [Mizukami]: see Note
1 below) as phonetic with associated sense
‘two persons meet/line up’, giving ‘two people
speak’, these being a plaintiff and defendant
arguing in court; then by extension, ‘an official’,
such as one who hears them (Mizukami:
see Note 2 below). In another view, the OBI
form is interpreted as 22 ‘mouth, speak’,
combined with the two identical shapes
above it which are taken to represent lanterns,
giving the overall meaning ‘a pair, form a pair’
(Gu); in this view, ‘plaintiff and defendant’ are
seen as making up such a pair. In another
analysis, 㯥 is taken to represent two tied
bags, in line with the origin of the graph
201 ‘east’, but regarded here as specifically
signifying bags containing material relevant
to a court hearing (Shirakawa). Tōdō also takes
the top part of the older forms of this graph as
two (unspecified) objects lined up, with overall
sense ‘come/put together; those who come
together, equals’ (the element ‘speak’ does
not seem to be accounted for in this analysis).
Examples of the abbreviated form can be
found in the clerical script at the same time as
the original more complicated version. Note
1: while OBI forms for 㯥 are clearly made up
of a duplication of ‘east’, opinions vary on
the meaning. Note 2: OBI occurrences have
22 ‘mouth; speak’ rather than ‘speak’,
though this makes little if any difference to
the view of Mizukami, especially since
and can both mean ‘speak’. TA1965:216-18;
MS1995:v1:632-3,628-9,688-90; GY2008:1205;
SS1984:543; WM1974:52-3. We suggest taking
this graph as double ‘suns’ 66 and a ‘long’
version of grass/vegetation .
Mnemonic: OFFICIAL SAYS DOUBLE SUNS
MAKE THE GRASS GROW LONG
1635
L1
曽
11
SŌ, SO, katsute
former(ly), once,
before, previous
strokes
SŌSOFUgreat grandfather
SŌSOBOgreat grandmother
SŌYŪprevious visit
OBI ; bronze ; seal ; traditional . Originally,
a pictograph of a sieve or steamer. The
OBI form may be taken as depicting either,
but at the bronze stage a pot – probably for
making steam – was added as the bottom element,
giving ‘steamer’ as the likely meaning.
Subsequently adopted as a convenient means
of representing several other homophones
or near-homophones of abstract meaning
(grammatical function words) in early
Chinese such as ‘once in the past, formerly’.
OT1968:478; GY2008:1507; MS1995:v1:634-5;
WD1974:713-5. Suggest taking 70 as ‘go
away’, 63 ‘field’, and 66 ‘day’.
Mnemonic: FORMER DAYS WHEN WE WERE
ONCE IN THE FIELDS HAVE GONE
1636
L1
爽
SŌ, sawayaka
refreshing, clear
11 strokes
SŌKAI naexhilerating
SASSŌ tarudashing, gallant
sawayaka narefreshing
Bronze ; seal . Interpretations differ. In
one view, the graph represents a figure 56
‘big’, wearing a beautiful garment with long
sleeves, giving ‘beautiful’ and by extension
‘clear’ (Ogawa). Another analysis treats as
‘person’, combined with (originally ‘crossed
tally sticks; intertwined’; see Note below) reduplicated
taken as window lattice-work, sig-
The Remaining 1130 Characters 485