480531170

2031
L1
躍
YAKU, odoru
leap, dance, rush
21 strokes
YAKUSHINrush, dash
HIYAKU leap
odorikomu rush into
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 54
‘leg/foot’, and 236, CO meaning ‘pheasant’
but also in word-family meaning ‘rise up,
leap up’. Latter meaning was clarified by
adding , thus . Typically, here is taken
as phonetic with the above associated sense,
but Gu takes as both semantic and phonetic
in function. TA1965:247-9; OT1968:977;
MS1995:v2:1048-9; GY2008:1245; AS2007:
497; KJ1970:874. Take literally as ‘bird’
324 and ‘wings’ 82.
Mnemonic: LEAP WITH FEET FLYING LIKE
BIRD’S WINGS
2032
L1
闇
yami, AN
darkness, gloom
17 strokes
yamiichi black market
AN’YA dark night
yūyami dusk, twilight
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 231
‘gate, door’, with 6 (‘sound’) as phonetic
with associated sense taken as i] ‘cover’,
giving ‘close gate’ (Ogawa), or ii] ‘put inside
and close’, giving ‘put inside gates/entrance
and close, making it dark’ (Tōdō). Tōdō
takes ‘dark’ as an extended sense, while
a noted pre-modern commentator on
Shuowen (Duan Yucai, 1735-1815) regards
as a loan use. OT1968:1062; TA1965:815-24;
DJ2009:v3:967.
Mnemonic: SOUNDS COME THROUGH GATE
IN THE DARK GLOOM
2033
L1
喩
YU, tatoeru
compare, liken
12 strokes
HIYU metaphor, simile
HIYUTEKI figurative
KAN’YU metonymy
Seal a late graph (Shuowen). Consists of
22 ‘mouth; speak’, with (CO, ‘hollow out log
as boat’; see Note below) as phonetic with
associated sense ‘transfer, change’, giving
original meaning ‘instruct’. ‘Speak figuratively,
compare’ may perhaps be an extended sense.
Note: the bronze form of is interpreted
in one view as 1450 ‘boat’, with a second
element which is interpreted as ‘snake/
cicada with cast-off skin’, giving ‘hollow out
inner part of log and leave outer part as boat’
(Katō). Mizukami notes an alternative view
which takes the second element as ‘blade
for scraping/gouging out’, but giving the
same overall meaning. Shirakawa, alternatively
again, takes as ‘bowl’ (presumably
a meaning extended from ‘hollow out log as
boat’ [based on a classical Chinese source, but
Tōdō does not agree]) and the main part of
the second element as a large surgical needle
for removing blood and pus, with the accompanying
single stroke as ‘showing blood
and pus being transferred into the bowl’.
The graph () exhibits some variation in
shape in bronze. OT1968:191; KJ1970:500-01;
MS1995:v1:100-01; SS1984:829; AS2007:623;
TA1965:173-4. Difficult mnemonically, but we
suggest taking 209 as ‘meat, body’, with arrows/pointers
巜 pointing to it,