480531170

122
L5
午
GO
noon
4 strokes
GOGOp.m., afternoon
GOZENa.m., morning
SHŌGOnoon
Based on pictograph of a pestle: OBI ; bronze
; Shuowen . Associated with the horse in
the context of the Twelve Earthly Branches, a
traditional classificatory system employed from
the Shang Dynasty to denote hours of the day,
compass points, and so on. The ‘hour of the
Horse’ (actually two hours) was the seventh of
the Twelve Branches, and corresponded roughly
to 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., hence the extended
meaning of ‘noon’. Distinguish from 108 ‘cow’.
QX2000:335; SS1984:282; AS2007:519.
Mnemonic: COW BROKE TIP OFF HORN AT
NOON
123
L5
後
9
IGOafter
KŌHANsecond half
atoajiaftertaste
GO, KŌ, ushiro, ato,
nochi, okureru
behind, after, delay
strokes
Bronze ; seal . Analyses vary. Taken in one
view (Katō) as meaning ‘go back/backwards’,
with 29 (‘fine threads, small’) as phonetic
with associated sense ‘go’, giving ‘go back/
backwards’. ‘Behind, after’ and ‘be behind,
put afterwards’, etc. are all in the same wordfamily
(Schuessler). Katō takes the lower
right-hand element in as (‘descending
foot’ [determinative no.34]) meaning ‘go’, but
Tōdō takes it as ‘walk slowly, drag foot’, which
is the sense normally attributed to (determinative
35); see Appendix. TA1965:304-5;
OT1968:229; KJ1970:404; AS2007:280. Take
as crosslegged, 131 ‘go’.
Mnemonic: GO CROSSLEGGED ON
THREADING ROAD AND FALL BEHIND
124
語
GO, kataru
tell, speak, talk
L5
14 strokes
GOCHŌtone of voice
monogatarisaga
NIHONGOJapanese lang.
Bronze ; Shuowen form . Has 118
‘words, language’, and (NJK, ‘I/we’) as
phonetic with associated sense taken as ‘defend
verbally’ (to questions), or ‘exchange’ (Ogawa,
Tōdō). In latter case, ‘tell, speak’ is a generalized
sense. KJ1970:395; SS1984:284; OT1968:930;
TA1965:427. Take as 21 ‘five’ and 22
‘mouth’.
Mnemonic: FIVE MOUTHS SPEAK MANY
WORDS
125
工
KŌ, KU
work
L4
3 strokes
KŌJŌfactory
JINKŌman-made
DAIKUcarpenter
Ma considers the OBI form to show an axhead
and Katō similarly takes it as an ax, but
questionable. Shirakawa interprets as some
kind of tool also. Based on a bronze form with
thicker bottom stroke, Gu takes as tool for
compacting soil. Ogawa believes a chisel is represented,
but this is less convincing. Others see
it as an adze-cum-square. By the bronze stage
it had acquired its modern form. MR2007:308;
KJ1970:405-6; SS1984:285; OT1968:309;
GY2008:23.
Mnemonic: WORK WITH CARPENTER’S
SET-SQUARE
76 The 160 Second Grade Characters