480531170

522
L1
氏
SHI, uji
clan, family, mister
4 strokes
SHIMEIfull name
SHIZOKUclan
ITŌ-SHIMr Itō
OBI ; seal . These depict a sharp-ended
spoon-like utensil for taking meat and other
food from a large plate or cooking pot. As for
the meaning ‘clan, family’, this appears to derive
from a connection with . The OBI form of is
taken by Katō as originally meaning ‘buttocks’
523
L3
史
SHI
history, scribe
5 strokes
REKISHIhistory
JOSHIMs/Mrs/Mme
SHIJŌin history
OBI ; seal . Has 2003 ‘hand’, and ,
an element coincidental in shape with 59
‘middle’ but actually different, made from
‘tally, counting stick’, and 22 ‘mouth’; say’
524
L3
司
5
SHI, tsukasadoru
administer, official,
regulate
strokes
SHIHŌjudicature
SHIREIBUheadquarters
SHIKAISHAMC
OBI forms , seal . Has 22 ‘mouth,
orifice’, and 256 ‘person stretched out’
(Schuessler), or ‘person crouching’ (Katō). is
a mirror image of the different graph 869
(‘empress’, original meaning ‘anus’), but distinction
between the two was not clear until the seal
525
L4
試
13
SHI, kokoromiru,
tamesu
trial, test
strokes
SHIaimatch
SHIKENKANexaminer
kokoromitrial, test
(the rounded shape), and by extension ‘hilly
prominence’. It was common for noble families
in ancient China to live on elevated sites (as
in other countries around the world), and the
families themselves came to be referred to as
‘such-and-such ’ (i.e those who live on suchand-such
a hill). Possibly represented a word
of similar pronunciation to , and thus
came to be used for ‘clan, family’. KJ1970:453-
4,656-8; YK1976:213; MS1995:v2:724-5.
Mnemonic: THAT CLAN HAS A STRANGE
LADLE WITH POINTY BITS
(here: ‘count’), to give ‘do calendrical calculation’,
and by extension person who does such
work, then generalised to persons whose work
involved reading/writing, i.e. scribes. (Qiu gives
examples of graphs that coincide in shape but
are different, i.e. represent different words;
see QX2000:301ff.) KJ1970:448-9; YK1976:215;
MS1995:v1:208-9.
Mnemonic: HAND OVER MOUTH, SCRIBE
RECOUNTS HISTORY
script – the direction of writing for individual
graphs often varied in OBI and bronze texts, as
seen in above OBI forms for listed by Mizukami.
Yamada treats the top two strokes of as
phonetic with associated sense ‘dirty, unclean’, to
give overall meaning ‘anus’. However, Mizukami
takes as ‘vagina’. In Tōdō’s word-family ‘(rub
a) small opening’. AS2007:565; KJ1970:456-7;
MS1995:206-8,212-3; YK1976:214; TA1965:117-9.
Suggest taking as ‘corner’, with 1 ‘one’ and
22 ‘opening/entrance’.
Mnemonic: OFFICIAL ADMINISTERS ONE
ENTRANCE IN CORNER
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 118
‘words’, and 311 ‘(rule, form’) as phonetic
with associated sense ‘watch for, look out for’
(Katō, Yamada), to give ‘discern someone’s intentions
from their language’. Schuessler states
in early classical texts it already had the sense
‘test, try’. KJ1970:311; YK1976:225; AS2007:466.
Mnemonic: TEST FORMS OF WORDS
The 200 Fourth Grade Characters 177