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351
L3
息
10
SOKU, iki
breath, rest, child,
interest (money)
strokes
KYŪSOKU rest
tameiki sigh
RISOKU interest (money)
Bronze forms , ; seal . Has 150 ‘self’,
here in original sense ‘nose’, and (bronze)
or 164 ‘heart/mind’ as phonetic with
associated sense ‘advance’ (here, of breath
through the nose). Thus the core meaning is
‘breath(e)’. ‘Rest’ is an extended meaning. From
Han times, the graph also had the sense of
‘increase and decrease’, and then just ‘increase’
(hence interest on money). Gu takes ‘child’ as
based on semantic extension from ‘breath’ (as
vital life sign) firstly to ‘grow’, and then ‘child’.
MS1995:v1:508-9; KJ1970:644-5; YK1976:334-5;
GY2008:1082-3.
Mnemonic: HEART NEEDS NOSE TO BREATHE
352
L3
速
SOKU, hayai/meru,
sumiyaka
speed, fast
10 strokes
SOKKI shorthand
JISOKU speed per hour
sumiyaka ni rapidly
Bronze ; seal . Has 85 ‘go, walk’, and
561 (now meaning ‘bundle’ and ‘manage’ qv)
as phonetic with associated sense range ‘busy,
restless, hurry’. MS1995:v2:1292-3; KJ1970:649;
YK1976:335.
Mnemonic: MOVES VERY FAST TO MAKE A
BUNDLE
353
L4
族
KAZOKU family
MINZOKU race
SHUZOKU tribe
ZOKU
clan, family
11 strokes
OBI ; bronze . Generally taken as 145
‘arrow’, with element for flagpole and streamer
(modern form / : see also CO 斿 at 424) as
phonetic with associated sense ‘sharp, pointed’.
Originally meant ‘arrowhead’. ‘Family’ is a
loan usage, and when this meaning became
dominant, the metal determinative 16 was
added to create a new graph for ‘arrowhead’.
MS1995:v1:604-5; KJ1970:649-50; YK1976:336.
We suggest taking as 223 ‘side’, and as 41
‘person’.
Mnemonic: PERSON WITH ARROW AT HIS
SIDE SIDE BELONGS TO OUR FAMILY
354
他
TA, hoka
the graph ‘carry on the back’ evolved ( 41
other
‘person’, and as phonetic with associated
L3
5 strokes
sense ‘add’, giving ‘carry’), and was sometimes
borrowed for ‘other (person)’ (a near-homophone).
To reduce ambiguity in texts, was
TANIN stranger
TAKOKU foreign land
devised (Six Dynasties [222-589] or later) for
yoso* elsewhere
‘other’, leaving for ‘load; carry’. Note: , also
originally pictograph of a snake [NJK], was itself
Bronze () ; seal () ; is post-Shuowen.
borrowed for other words meaning ‘be, also’,
At first, early Chinese word for ‘other, other
etc. MS1995:v1:56-7; YK1976:341. Take as
person’ was written , originally pictograph of
both ‘snake’ and ‘to be’.
snake with large head (CO graph). This bronze
form for ‘snake’ later diverged into two separate Mnemonic: THAT OTHER PERSON IS A SNAKE
graphs, viz. and (see Note below). Later,
The 200 Third Grade Characters 131