480531170

509
L4
菜
SAI, na
vegetable, rape
11 strokes
YASAIvegetables
natanerape-seed
SAISHOKUvegetarianism
OBI of is ; seal ; traditional . Has 53
‘plant, vegetation’, and (see OBI form above)
510
最
SAI, mottomo
L3
most, -est
12 strokes
SAIDAIbiggest
SAIGOfinal, end
SAISHINmost recent
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 冃 ‘helmet,
head covering’, and 317 as semantic and
phonetic with meaning ‘take’, to give ‘seize
unlawfully’. The meaning ‘most’ should be
as semantic and phonetic, meaning ‘hand picking
fruit, etc.’, to give ‘edible fruit/plants to pick
and eat’. In modern Japanese (and Chinese),
means ‘greens, vegetables’, but in Japanese
also has the more specialised sense of ‘rape’
(the vegetable). KJ1970:419; MS1995:1354-5;
YK1976:198.
Mnemonic: HAND PLUCKS VEGETABLES
NEAR TREE
regarded as a loan usage. The top element
in the block script version of this graph – easily
mistaken for 66 ‘sun, day’ – is just the result
of historical shape regularization, a process
which has often led, as here, to the etymology
being obscured. KJ1970:501-2; YK1976:199;
OT1968:157. We suggest taking as ‘sun’ for
convenience.
Mnemonic: TAKE MOST SUN WHEN IT’S AT
ITS HIGHEST
511
L3
材
ZAI
timber, resource
7 strokes
ZAIMOKUtimber
ZAIRYŌmaterial, data
JINZAItalented person
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 73 ‘tree,
wood’, and 139 (original meaning uncertain)
as phonetic with associated sense ‘use’ (Katō,
512
L4
昨
SAKU
yesterday, past
9 strokes
SAKUJITSUyesterday
SAKUYAlast night
SAKUNENlast year
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 66 ‘day’,
and 141 (‘cut up wood; make’) as phonetic
with associated sense ‘accumulate’, to give
original sense ‘some days earlier’. The more
Yamada) or ‘cut off/down; interrupt’ (Tōdō),
to give ‘wood which is useful’ or ‘wood to cut’.
Later, it also acquired generalized meaning
‘useful material, resource’ in both physical and
figurative senses. KJ1970:422; YK1976:201;
TA1965:107-9. Suggest taking for its meaning
‘age’.
Mnemonic: WHATEVER AGE A TREE IS, IT’S A
USEFUL TIMBER RESOURCE
restricted meaning ‘last, previous’ (in Japanese,
effectively the only modern sense) dates back
to at least the time of the Guangyun dictionary
(1008 AD); in that work, is connected
to 1120 (‘separate’), but other proposed
connections include 346 ‘in the past; yesterday’
(Schuessler). KJ1970:438; YK1976:203;
TA1965:364-7; AS2007:637.
Mnemonic: THE PAST IS MADE UP OF YES-
TERDAYS
The 200 Fourth Grade Characters 173