480531170

51
L5
52
L4
先
SEN, saki
prior, precede, tip
6 strokes
SENSEI teacher
SENGETSU last month
yubisaki fingertip
The OBI form for shows a foot on top of a
person, signifying ‘walk ahead, go first’. (This is
similar in principle to 20 ‘look’, in which the
majority of OBI forms show an exaggerated
eye on top of a person, thereby focussing on
what the eye does, i.e. ‘see’.) This is an interpretation
quite widely held (Shirakawa, Karlgren,
Ogawa). Katō, however, sees the top element
早
SŌ, hayai
early, fast
6 strokes
SŌKYŪ immediately
hayakuchi rapid speech
hayajini early death
in some of the OBI and bronze forms differently,
not as 143 (q.v.) but as (NJK; ‘move,
go’), a graph indicating movement (either by
a person walking or a plant growing). In either
case, Katō then takes the top element as phonetic
in function with associated sense ‘die’,
giving ‘those who have gone before’, and by
extension ‘the past’, and ‘advance’. The majority
view is perhaps the one to follow. SS1984:515;
BK1957:131-3; OT1968:87; KJ1970:627;
QX2000:53. As a mnemonic, suggest taking
as a simplified 44, showing plant(s), with
the ‘bending person’ element (see 41).
Mnemonic: BEND TO GO THROUGH UNDER-
GROWTH – YOU PRECEDE ME!
Etymology uncertain. Early form . Possibly
adopted in Chinese at an early stage as a
phonetic loan in the sense of ‘early’. Yamada
takes it as ‘sun bursting out’ (see 66 ‘sun’),
with 35 ‘ten’ seen as a phonetic with an associated
sense of ‘open, burst out’. Sunrise came
to mean ‘early’, then ‘fast’. QX2000:96,272,392;
SS1984:539; OT1968:460.
Mnemonic: SUN SHOWS TEN BUT IT’S STILL
EARLY
53
草
SŌ, kusa
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). (short form
grass, plant
of ‘grass, plants’), and 52 (‘fast, early’) as
L3
9 strokes
phonetic to give meaning ‘acorn’ (Qiu, Katō),
but borrowed early on for ‘grass, plants’. The
ZASSŌweed
borrowed usage soon prevailed. QX2000:266;
SŌSHOcursive script
KJ1970:427; TA1965:216-8.
kusaCHIgrassland
Mnemonic: GRASS GROWS FAST
54
足
SOKU, ashi, tariru OBI . Pictograph of kneecap down to foot.
leg, foot, suffice
At this stage and 43 were often written
the same. ‘Suffice’ is loan use. SS1984:543;
L5
7 strokes
BK1957:313; MS1995:v2:1260-62,v1:702-03.
FUSOKUinsufficiency
ashikubiankle
Mnemonic: ROUND KNEE AND FOOT SUFFICE
ashiotofootsteps
TO SHOW LEG
The 80 First Grade Characters 59