480531170

丽 is interpreted as representing two horns
(Ogawa takes to be ‘beautifully embellished
horns’), thus giving ‘beautiful horns’, and by
extension ‘beautiful’; unless there are early
text references to substantiate it, analysis
based on embellishment of horns does not
seem all that convincing. Interpretation as
‘horns’ (unadorned) is favored by Shirakawa,
who takes 丽 as the earliest way of writing
. Mizukami treats ‘beautiful’ as a loan
usage, though a case could be made for
an extended meaning, and may indeed be
more likely. MS1995:v2:1506-07; KJ1970:915;
OT1968:1160; TA1965:480; SS1984:901. We
suggest taking 丽 as hoof-prints.
Mnemonic: HOOF-PRINTS OF BEAUTIFUL
DEER
2112
L1
暦
REKI, koyomi
calendar, almanac
14 strokes
REKINENcalendar year
SEIREKIAnno Domini
hanagoyomifloral clock
Seal ; a late graph (later version of Shuowen);
traditional . In one view, analyzed as
consisting of 66 ‘sun, day’, with 厤 (CO;
‘divide up evenly/carefully’ – see 636 ‘history,
path’, and for 秝 see Note below) taken
as phonetic with associated sense ‘walk
with regular intervals’, giving ‘sun moves
with regular intervals’ (Katō). In similar vein,
Ogawa takes 厤 as phonetic with associated
sense ‘divide up equally’, to give ‘(device) for
counting by arranging/setting out days’, i.e.
‘calendar’. According to Qiu, was devised
to represent unambiguously in writing the
word for‘calendar’, which had until then
been represented using 636 (path/move-
2113
劣
RETSU, otoru
inferiority
L1
6 strokes
HIRETSUbaseness
RETTŌKANinferiority complex
RESSHAan inferior
ment followed by sun and other heavenly
bodies at regular intervals). Shirakawa, by
contrast, puts forward several proposed
bronze forms for which feature not
‘sun, day’ but 1048 ‘speak’, which he
interprets as ‘announce on banner military
prowess at camp gates’. The form , now
standard in Japanese usage, evolved as relatively
late variant (block script stage). Note:
秝 (CO; reduplication of 87 ‘grain plant’) is
taken in one view as ‘arrange grain seedlings
equidistantly’ or ‘arranged properly’ (Mizukami).
Shirakawa, alternatively, takes 秝 to
represent grain plants placed to mark the
entrance to a military camp. KJ1970:921;
OT1968:474; MS1995:v1:186-7,v2:966-7;
QX2000:357; OT1968:474; SS1984:902-3.
Take the modern form as ‘history’ 636
without the element ‘stop’ 143, i.e. ‘nonstop’.
Mnemonic: CALENDAR RECORDS NON-STOP
HISTORY OF DAYS
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Consists of
78 ‘strength’ combined with 160 ‘few,
little’, giving in one view ‘strength diminished,
less strength’ (Tōdō, Ogawa). Another
commentator (Katō) considers ‘bend’ to
be a connotation, giving ‘bend easily due
to poor strength’, and by extension ‘weak’.
Either way, ‘inferior’ is an extended sense.
TA1965:556; OT1968:125; KJ1970:922-3.
Mnemonic: ANYTHING THAT HAS LITTLE
STRENGTH IS INFERIOR
636 The Remaining 1130 Characters