480531170

1083
暇
KA, hima, itoma
leisure, free time
L1
13 strokes
KYŪKAbreak, holiday
YOKAleisure
himadorube tardy
Bronze () ; seal () ; late graph (Shuowen).
Has 66 ‘day’, and (CO; orig. meaning:
‘unpolished/blemished jade’ [Shirakawa], or
‘person wearing mask’ [Katō, Mizukami]) as
phonetic with associated sense taken either as
i] ‘gap, space’, giving ‘day where there is a gap/
space’, or ii] ‘stay, be’, giving ‘be at home all day in
leisurely manner’ (Ogawa). In Shirakawa’s view,
bronze forms of show one or two hands taking
material (possibly raw jade) from an enclosed
space. SS1984:78-9,74; KJ1970:121; OT1968:473;
MS1995:v1:198-200. Take as variant 170
‘tool in hand’, and as variant 120 ‘door’.
Mnemonic: USE TOOL IN HAND TO FIX DOOR
ON DAY OF LEISURE
1084
禍
KA, wazawai
disaster, calamity
L1
13 strokes
KAFUKUups and downs
SAIKAcalamity
KAKONroot of evil
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 723 ‘altar’
(by extension ‘deity’), and 659 (‘distorted
mouth’) as phonetic with associated sense
taken as i] ‘rebuke; displeased’ (Katō, Tōdō),
or ii] ‘cruel death’ (Ogawa), both giving same
overall sense ‘divine punishment’. KJ1970:311-2;
TA1965:628; OT1968:725. Suggest take as
topless tower.
Mnemonic: TOPLESS TOWER HAS ALTAR BUT
STILL A DISASTER
1085
L2
靴
KA, kutsu
shoe
13 strokes
SEIKAshoemaking
kutsushitasock
nagagutsuboot
Seal ( 鞾 ) (included in a later version of
Shuowen); is a later version. 鞾 consists of
836 ‘leather’, and 1079 (originally, vegetation
growing luxuriantly) as phonetic, to represent
a foreign loanword into Chinese (Ogawa suggests
from the language of the Xiongnu) which
itself initially denoted long riding boots. In the
graph 鞾 , the phonetic function of the righthand
element was later taken over by 258
‘change’, quite possibly with a semantic connotation
also. In Japanese usage at least, the sense
became more generalized to ‘shoes, footwear’.
OT1968:1094; GY2008:1545; SS1984:79.
Mnemonic: CHANGE LEATHER INTO SHOE
1086
L1
寡
14
KA
few, minimum, widow,
minority
strokes
KAMOKUsilence
KAFU/yamomewidow
KAGENreticence
Bronze ; seal . The bronze form has 30
‘roof, dwelling’, and element typically taken as
103 (originally pictograph of person with large
head), and interpreted as meaning ‘person alone
under a roof’, and by extension ‘few’. Ogawa
alone prefers to take the element under as a
variant of ‘summer’ 88 (with associated sense
‘one’ here). The seal form has 218 ‘divide’ added,
reinforcing the sense ‘divide (one thing)’, ‘few’.
OT1968:283; MS1995:v1:384-5; KJ1970:312-3.
Mnemonic: DIVIDING THE HEADS OF HOUSES
LEAVES FEW
The Remaining 1130 Characters 327