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639
L3
労
RŌ
labor, toil
7 strokes
RŌDŌSHAlaborer
KURŌhardship
KARŌoverwork
Seal ; traditional . Perhaps most convincingly
taken as 78 ‘strength, effort’ and
as an abbreviation of (NJK, ‘firefly’) with
semantic and phonetic function, meaning
‘small flame’, to give ‘work by the light of small
flames’, i.e. ‘night work’ (Katō, Yamada), this then
being extended to ‘work’ in general. Shirakawa,
alternatively, looks to a ritualistic interpretation,
linking it to sacred flames used to purify agricultural
implements at the beginning and end of
the season. Mizukami lists a number of bronze
forms which he equates to . KJ1970:81;
YK1976:506; SS1984:913; MS1995:v1:142-3. As
a mnemonic we suggest taking the three short
strokes on top of roof as an ornate roof
(see also 11), and as ‘effort’.
Mnemonic: TOIL WITH EFFORT UNDER OR-
NATE ROOF
640
L3
録
ROKU
record, inscribe
16 strokes
KIROKUrecord
JITSUROKUtrue record
ROKUONsound recording
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen); traditional .
Has 16 ‘metal’ (in ancient China, typically
referred to bronze or copper), and 彔 (CO,
originally a pictograph showing liquid [probably
wine] being strained and dripping down)
as semantic and phonetic, meaning ‘ooze, soak
through’; overall meaning is that which exudes
from copper, i.e. ‘verdigris’ (Katō, Yamada). Ogawa
takes 彔 as phonetic with associated sense
‘shine’, to give ‘shine with a metal color’. Either
way, the sense ‘record’ is just a loan usage, but
the verdigris interpretation is more compelling
(see 435 ‘green’ also). KJ1970:931-2;
YK1976:507; OT1968:1046. As a mnemonic
we suggest associating this graph with ‘green’,
as they have the same right hand part in the
modern form.
Mnemonic: RECORD BY INSCRIBING ON
GREEN METAL
208 The 200 Fourth Grade Characters