480531170

1072
乙
OTSU, ITSU
b, 2 nd , quaint, odd
L1
1 stroke
otome*maiden
otsu nistrangely
KŌ-OTSU-HEIABC
OBI ; bronze ; seal . The very simple and
non-distinctive shape makes analysis difficult:
views include the bent shape of a young
plant in spring and fish entrails, but modern
scholars tend towards interpreting as a type
of implement, specifically a curved knife for
carving (or as weapon), with two blades and an
intervening handle in the middle. Gu, however,
takes it as a sprout of vegetation breaking
through the soil surface. Loan usage for ‘2 nd in
series’, denoting the second of the sequenced
series of Ten Celestial Stems in traditional Chinese
culture. ‘Odd, strange’ is noted by Ogawa
as a Japanese-only sense. So too is ‘chic, stylish’.
KJ1970:937-8; OT1968:26; MR2007:513; GY
2008:443,3.
Mnemonic: QUAINT TWO-BLADED
IMPLEMENT COMES SECOND IN ORDER
1073
L1
俺
ore, EN
I/me (slang term)
10 strokes
orera/oira*we, us
ore-omaeslangy intimacy
ore nomy
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 41
‘person’, and NJK (‘cover’) as phonetic
(associated sense unclear). Shirakawa suggests
that the graph may represent what
was originally a loanword from the northern
regions. Mizukami analyzes based on
bronze and seal forms as comprising 56
‘big’ (but here meaning ‘cover from above’),
with 338 ‘say’, here meaning ‘grow upwards’,
giving ‘cover from above something
growingupwards’. TA1965:56; OT1968:68;
MS1995:v1:300-01.
Mnemonic:SAY, BIG GUY, WHAT ABOUT ME?
1074
卸
orosu, oroshi
wholesale
L1
9 strokes
oroshiuriwholesale
oroshiSHŌwholesaler
oroshineDANtrade price
OBI ; seal . Views vary. Gu sees OBI form
as a person kneeling () before some sort
of device as part of ritual to expel demons.
In seal form onwards, the role of lower-left
143 (usually ‘stop’, but in some graphs
can conversely indicate foot actions, hence
movement) is thought to emphasize movement
in the act of expelling. Shirakawa also
adopts ritualistic approach. Karlgren, Mizukami
and Gu all treat as early way of writing
for 1214 (q.v.; original meaning: ‘drive
[chariot’]); ‘unload’ may be extended sense,
leading to‘wholesale’. Katō treats the graph
(seal stage onwards) differently, taking it as
made up of and ; the latter is an obscure
element/graph listed in neither Shuowen nor
Kangxi zidian (and made up of ‘submissive
person’, with 122 ‘pestle’ [now ‘noon’]
here acting as phonetic for ‘confined’), taken
by Katō provisionally as ‘confined slave’
and then in extended sense ‘horse groom’;
combined with , this gives his proposed
original meaning ‘horse groom drives horse’.
KJ1970:849-50; SS1984:392; GY2008:868. We
suggest taking 1214 ‘honorable’ and removing
the movement determinative 131.
Mnemonic: WHOLESALE MARKET
HONORABLE BUT LACKS MOVEMENT
324 The Remaining 1130 Characters