480531170

1985
L1
僕
BOKU, shimobe
manservant, I/me
14 strokes
KŌBOKUpublic servant
DOBOKUmanservant
BOKUrawe / us
OBI ; seal . Interpretations vary. One
has41 ‘person’ with (CO; implement
for striking or gouging) as phonetic with
associated sense ‘hit, strike’. These two elements
are taken as having several different
overall meanings: ‘rough person who hits
animals’ (Mizukami), or ‘driver who whips
horses’ (Ogawa). Alternatively, Shirakawa
considers it might have originally denoted
a person who prepares the ground for
building foundations, but more likely has a
ritual connotation, taking the OBI form as
depicting someone wearing a ceremonial
cap and decorative tail for such a purpose.
A rather different view is that of Tōdō, who
takes the OBI form to depict a man with a
tattooed head (which in itself usually indicates
a slave or servant or prisoner) shaking
grain through a winnowing basket, with a
tail added to indicate lowly status such as
1986
L1
墨
BOKU, sumi
ink, inkstick
14 strokes
HITSUBOKU‘pen and ink’
HAKUBOKUchalk
sumiEink drawing
1987
撲
BOKU
strike, beat
L1
15 strokes
DABOKUstrike, blow
sumō*sumo
BOKUSATSUbeat to death
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Consists of /
34 ‘hand’, combined with (CO; implement
for striking or gouging) as phonetic, here serving
as onomatopoeic for the sound of impact
a slave. Another analysis, by Katō, is that of
a slave or servant (often a former prisoner)
carrying a chamber pot and its contents. In
ancient China – in fact till quite recently – a
servant of a noble (including the emperor)
would regularly take the contents of his
master’s chamber pot for examination by a
physician in order to ascertain the master’s
state of health. (There was also a similar
practice in medieval Europe.) Given the
presence of the visual particles in the early
form, it is more likely that one of the last
two interpretations, i.e. winnowing or the
chamber pot, would seem more convincing.
Whatever the activity, the person concerned
is of low status, hence senses such as ‘slave,
servant’, and by further extension ‘I/me
(humble)’. (In terms of humility, compare
for example with pre-war English phrases
such as “I remain your humble/obedient
servant”.) MS1995:v1:80-82; OT1968:80;
SS1984:805,803; TA1965:317-9; KJ1985:49.
This interesting graph is awkward mnemonically
but we suggest taking as a variant of
(= odd) 278 ‘profession’.
Mnemonic: I AM A PERSON WITH AN ODD
PROFESSION – MANSERVANT
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen); traditional
. Has 64 ‘soil, earth’, with 137
‘black’ (originally, ‘soot, lampblack’) as semantic
and phonetic, giving ‘ink cake (soot and
soil as main ingredients)’. MS1995:v1:278-9;
KJ1970:864; OT1968:224; GY2008:1816.
Mnemonic: BLACK EARTH MAKES GOOD INK
against the material concerned. The overall
original meaning is ‘hit using the hand’, which
was then generalized to ‘hit, strike, beat’.
Note: regarding the irregular reading for sumo
in the example words, the two graphs mean
‘mutual striking’. KJ1970:773; MS1995:v1:560-61;
OT1968:430. As with 1985, we suggest taking
as a variant of (= odd) 278 ‘profession’.
Mnemonic: STRIKING WITH THE HAND IS AN
ODD PROFESSION – EXCEPT SUMO
The Remaining 1130 Characters 593