480531170

1901
L1
賓
HIN
guest, visitor
15 strokes
SHUHINguest of honor
RAIHINguest, visitor
GEIHINKAN reception hall
Bronze ; seal ; traditional . Has 10
‘shell-money’, or in some bronze forms
1746 ‘tripod vessel’ (both symbols of wealth),
with a second element as phonetic. Views
differ on / (rare graph, not in Kangxi
zidian). Ogawa sees it as semantic and
phonetic meaning ‘guest’, thus ‘valuables for
guest’ and by extension ‘guest’. Another view
sees it as possible variant of 89 ‘house’
as phonetic with associated sense ‘lay out,
display’, thus ‘display and give valuables’, by
extension ‘entertain guest’ (Mizukami, Katō).
OT1968:960; MS1995:v2:1242-3; KJ1970:169;
AS2007:167. Take as ‘half-built house’.
Mnemonic: A HALF-BUILT HOUSE WELCOMES
GUESTS WITH SHELL-MONEY
1902
頻
HIN
frequency
L1
17 strokes
HINPAN nifrequently
HINPATSUfrequency
HINDO frequency
Late post-Shuowen graph. Taken as short form
of NJK ‘shore, verge; wrinkles like water
ripples’ (see 1900). Later, was borrowed
for its sound value to represent another
word meaning ‘frequent’. OT1968:1105,613;
GY2008:1580. Take as ‘head’ 103, ‘walk’
221.
Mnemonic: WALK ON ONE’S HEAD
FREQUENTLY!?
1903
敏
BIN
agile, alert, quick
L1
10 strokes
BINSOKUalacrity
EIBINsharpness
KIBIN sharpness
OBI ; seal . OBI and bronze forms have
2003 ‘hand’, with (traditional form of
225 ‘each, every’) as phonetic with associated
sense taken in one view as ‘work
hard/rapidly’, giving overall sense ‘work
busily with hands’ (Katō). At seal stage,
was changed to / 112 ‘hit, strike’, and
this is believed to reflect a shift in meaning
to ‘hit in busy fashion’ (Katō). Meanings
such as ‘alert, quick’ are extended senses. An
alternative analysis treats as depicting a
woman with a hairpin, which combined with
is taken as depicting a woman adjusting
her hair ornament; overall meaning is then
held to be ‘woman works busily on ritual
matters’ (Shirakawa), though this seems to
involve a jump in semantic progression.
KJ1970:812; MS1995:v1:578-9; OT1968:439;
SS1984:439.
Mnemonic: EVERY STRIKE SHOULD MAKE
ONE MORE ALERT
1904
瓶
BIN, kame
Bronze ; seal ; traditional (see also
bottle, jug, jar
Note 2). ‘pottery/earthenware receptacle’
(originally a pictograph) was the earlier
L1
11 strokes
determinative in this graph (on right-hand
BINzumebottling
side in the bronze form) combining with 幷
KABINflower vase
(NJK ’put/join together’; see Note 1 below) as
tsurube* well-bucket
phonetic with associated sense ‘flattish, thin
568 The Remaining 1130 Characters