480531170

1746
貞
TEI
the norm, with proviso that is progressively
chaste, virtue
abbreviated to . Bronze onwards 鼑 / is
L1
9 strokes
taken as ‘perform divination inquiry’, with
lower element , here generally taken as abbrev
TEISŌchastity
of as phonetic with associated sense
FUTEIinfidelity
taken as i] ‘ask; summon’ (Katō, Mizukami)
TEIJOchaste woman
or ii] ‘understand directly’ (Mizukami), thus
‘perform divination and inquire of the gods/
OBI ; bronze ; seal . At OBI stage,
the Supreme Being’. ‘Understand directly’
often written as ‘tripod vessel’, i.e. and
seems to indicate some sort of intuitive
appear initially to have been one and the
understanding obtained via divinatory process.
The sense ‘make divination inquiry’ was
same graph. When used not in the sense ‘tripod
vessel’ but as a loan for a separate word
later generalized to ‘ask’. Shirakawa asserts
(near-homophone) in early Chinese meaning
that serves in this graph not as phonetic
‘perform divination inquiry’, there seems to
but as semantic element, reflecting use of
have been a tendency to use a slightly abbrev
tripod vessels in divination, but lacks support.
Mizukami takes ‘correct’ as a loan usage.
shape for latter sense, as noted by Karlgren
and suggested also by respective OBI forms
Similarly, Tōdō takes ‘straight, correct’ as loan
for and given by Mizukami. As for original
meaning ‘tripod vessel’, is often seen as
usage; hard to know whether ‘virtue, chastity’
is extended sense or further extended sense.
a pictograph showing such vessel, but Boltz
MS1995V2:1230-31,1516-8; BK1957:221-
argues it only looks like this if you already
2; WB1994:56; KJ1970:707; TA1965:465-8;
know what is being shown. Very rarely, OBI
SS1984:616. Take as ‘shell’ 10.
forms occur with 96 ‘divination’ as top element,
giving 鼑 to clarify ‘divination inquiry’.
From bronze on, the two-element graph is
Mnemonic: DIVINATION BY SHELL-CRACKS
PROVES VIRTUE AND CHASTITY
1747
帝
TEI
emperor
L1
9 strokes
TEIKOKUempire
TEIŌemperor
TEIŌSEKKAICaesarian
OBI ; seal . OBI shows wooden structure
with supporting cross-timbers, horizontal
brace and flat top, an altar for deities; Mizukami
suggests it was for rituals of worship
to Supreme Being (Ch. shangdi), the most
powerful deity. Some OBI forms have hori-
zontal line above altar, as offerings; and is in
almost all bronze forms, through to seal form,
later changing from horizontal to diagonal
or upright. By extension, meaning changed
from ritual vehicle (altar) to object of worship,
i.e. Supreme Being, and by further extension
to senses such as ‘ancestor, emperor’.
MS1995:v1:438-40; KJ1970:711; SS1984:615;
OT1968:316; FC1974:v1:688-90; AS2007:210.
Suggest combining 77 ‘stand’ and 106
‘broom’.
Mnemonic: EMPEROR STANDS OVER BROOM
520 The Remaining 1130 Characters