480531170

713
L3
罪
ZAI, tsumi
crime, sin
13 strokes
HANZAIcrime
ZAIAKUvice
tsumibukaisinful
Original graph was 辠 (bronze: ; seal: ).
This was the underlying early Chinese word for
‘crime’, which is analyzed as 1535 (now ‘sharp’,
but originally, ‘needle’; tattooing needle used
to mark criminals’ foreheads, and by extension
‘crime’), with 150 (originally, ‘nose’; ‘self’)
as phonetic with associated sense ‘commit a
crime; crime’ (Mizukami, Ogawa). During the
Qin dynasty (221-206 BC), however, the selfstyled
First Emperor Shi HuangDi () considered
that the graph 辠 with its very negative
connotation was too close in shape to the
graph ‘emperor’, and so had it changed to
as part of his standardization and reform of
the writing system at that period. The replacement
graph originally meant ‘fishing net’, but
appears to have been borrowed on the basis of
having been a near-homophone to 辠 . At the
same time, though, could be construed as
(the occurrent shape of the ‘net’ determinative
as a top element 570), with 794 ‘not;
wrong, wrongdoing’ (, originally showing bird
wings spread out), thus giving a supposed
meaning ‘to net wrongdoing’, and this notion
would probably have been quite pleasing to
Shi HuangDi and his advisers. QX2000:313-4;
MS1995:v2:1274-6; YK1976:201-2. We suggest a
variety of mnemonics for the modern graph.
Mnemonic: NETTING A BIRD IS A CRIME
Or: CRIME IS SPREADING INTO A NETWORK
Or: NETTING WRONGDOERS IS NOT A CRIME
714
L3
雑
ZATSU, ZŌ
miscellany
14 strokes
ZATSUDANchitchat
ZATSUONnoise, static
ZŌHYŌ‘rank and file’
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen); traditional
Original way of writing was , consisting of
() 444 ‘(upper) garment, clothing’, and 324
(‘gather, collect’, originally birds gathering in
a tree) as semantic and phonetic, to give ‘gar-
715
L1
酸
SAN, sui, suppai
acid, bitter
14 strokes
SANSOoxygen
SANSEIacidity
ENSANhydrochloric acid
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 318 (NJK,
orig ‘wine jar’ > ‘wine’), and (CO, ‘drag feet’;
see 1470) as phonetic with associated sense
ment made of various colored cloths gathered
together’. Subsequently the meaning became
focused as ‘gather (a variety)’ and the shape
modified to , which in turn led to the form
used in modern Japanese writing, probably
through earlier cursivizing. FC1974:v2:2396;
KJ1970:432; YK1976:205; OT1968:1078. As a
mnemonic, we suggest taking the modern
graph’s three components, bird(s)/gather,
with 73 ‘tree’ and 13 ‘nine’.
Mnemonic: NINE BIRDS GATHERED IN A TREE
– QUITE A MISCELLANY
‘pierce, stab’, to give ‘alcohol-like liquid which
[feels like it] stabs the tongue’; by extension,
a range of meanings such as ‘sour, wine gone
bad; vinegar’, ‘acid taste, acid’. KJ1970:60;
YK1976:209-10; OT1968:1028. We suggest
taking right hand part as ‘crossed legs’ (see
Appendix), and ‘runny nose’ .
Mnemonic: BITTER ACID IN JAR CAUSES
RUNNY NOSE AND CROSSED LEGS
The 185 Fifth Grade Characters 229