480531170

753
L3
接
SETSU, tsugu
contact, join
11 strokes
MENSETSUinterview
SETSUZOKUconnection
tsugikigraft (of trees)
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 34 ‘hand’,
and (NJK, ‘concubine’; derives from 37
woman, and as abbreviation of 1535
[tattooing needle used on criminals and slaves,
754
L3
設
SETSU, mōkeru
establish, build
11 strokes
SETCHIestablishment
SEKKEIdesign
SETSURITSUfounding
OBI ; seal . OBI form for 170 (‘strike with
weapon’) has hand holding object such as a
club or mallet, held next to a wedge, to give
755
舌
ZETSU, shita
tongue
L1
6 strokes
ZESSENwar of words
BENZETSUeloquence
shitatarazulisping
OBI , ; seal . One view sees this graph
as having no bronze or seal forms, analysing
as 22 ‘mouth’, with 840 (originally forked
weapon, now ‘dry’) as phonetic with associated
sense ‘include’ (used for 1167 ‘include’,
756
L3
絶
ZETSU, taeru, tatsu
cease, sever, end
12 strokes
ZETSUBŌdespair
ZETTAITEKIabsolute
taezuunceasingly
OBI ; seal ; traditional form has 198
(‘knife’) at top right. The OBI form shows
threads hanging down, with horizontal strokes
to represent cutting through the threads. The
now ‘sharp’]) as phonetic with associated sense
‘take’, to give ‘take the hand’; by extension, ‘mix/
mingle with’, and hence ‘contact’. Tōdō includes
in a word-family ‘slender point; slender point
thrusts in’, giving a clear original sexual connotation.
TA1965:848-51; KJ1970:623; YK1976:311.
Suggest taking as 37 ‘woman standing’
77.
Mnemonic: JOIN HANDS WITH STANDING
WOMAN
‘construct, establish’. Seal form onwards with
118 ‘words, speak’ is widely taken as an error;
likely due to misinterpretation of certain older
forms of which include a wedge-shaped
component. MS1995:v2:1184-5; KJ1970:618-9;
YK1976:311; OT1968:545. Take as ‘hand holding
tool/weapon’.
Mnemonic: BUILD WITH WORDS, DESPITE
HAMMER IN HAND
in early Chinese a near-homophone), to give
‘contained in mouth’, i.e. tongue (Katō, Yamada).
Qiu, though, looks to identify OBI forms for
, as does Mizukami. Qiu takes the OBI forms
as ‘mouth’ with another element which he
sees as the tongue itself (short strokes either
side of this in some instances may depict
saliva). KJ1970:620; QX2000:195; YK1976:313;
MS1995:v2:1096-7. Suggest taking the upper
part as 49 ‘a thousand’.
Mnemonic: A THOUSAND MOUTHS, A
THOUSAND TONGUES
seal form has 29 ‘thread’ and , with 41
(originally a person kneeling) as a phonetic with
an associated sense typically taken as ‘cut’, to
give ‘cut thread with knife’. The sense was then
generalized to ‘cut, sever’, and by extension
‘end’. OT1968:778; KJ1970:346-7; YK1976:314;
MS1995:v2:1012-3. We suggest taking the righthand
part as 162 ‘color’.
Mnemonic: SEVER COLORFUL THREADS
Or: CEASE MAKING COLORED THREADS
240 The 185 Fifth Grade Characters