480531170

1665
L1
泰
TAI
calm, serene, big, Thai
10 strokes
TAIZENcomposure
ANTAIpeace
TAISEIthe West, Occident
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Interpretations
diverge considerably. In one approach,
taken as 56 ‘big’ (but here representing
‘person [standing]’) combined with ‘both
hands’ (stylized in block script to ) and
42 in the variant form 氺 , Gu interprets the
role of the hands as being to sprinkle water,
thus giving the overall meaning ‘bathe’. Another
view treats the same three elements as
having a different overall meaning, viz. ‘make
waterway bigger and improve flow’, and takes
‘tranquil, calm’ as an extended sense (Ogawa).
Yet another meaning put forward for these
three elements is ‘help out/rescue someone
who has fallen into water’ (Shirakawa).
Alternatively, the element here is regarded
as phonetic in function with associated sense
’emerge, escape’, giving ‘let (something) slip
through the fingers in water’ (e.g. rice, when
washing it) or ‘put through sieve’ (Katō).
Sometimes borrowed on the basis of its sound
value – more commonly in older texts – to
write TAI ‘Thailand’. Correct interpretation of
this graph is elusive. GY2008:979; OT1968:566;
SS1984:566; KJ1970:661. We suggest taking