480531170

1344
衡
KŌ, kubiki
scales, yoke
L1
16 strokes
KINKŌbalance
HEIKŌequilibrium
KŌKIscales
Bronze forms , ; seal . Interpretations
vary. The center part of this graph is taken in
one view as ‘big horns’ (consisting of
97 ‘horn’ [slightly abbreviated shape] over
56 ‘big’), with 131 (‘go’, ‘carry out’, ‘line’) as
phonetic with associated sense ‘horizontal’
(Ogawa), giving ‘wooden crosspiece for bull’s
horns’ (to prevent goring). This analysis and
the resultant meaning are essentially the
same for Katō, except that he notes another
occurrent shape in bronze for which instead
of has CO 夨 ‘figure with head tilted’,
1345
L1
購
KŌ
buy
17 strokes
KŌNYŪpurchase
KŌBAIbuying
KŌDOKUsubscription
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen). Has 10
‘shell (currency), valuables’, and (see
1340 Note) as phonetic with associated
sense taken in one view as ‘exhaustively try
and which he takes as a variant of another
CO graph meaning ‘bull gores’. Even if we
do not accept Katō’s hypothesis of graph
substitution, interpretation as ‘horn’ plus
夨 ’tilted head’ (in this case, the bull’s), seems
satisfactory. Based on the use of a horizontal
piece of wood as the core component, the
original meaning ‘crosspiece for bull’s horns’
came to be used in extended senses such
as ‘scales’ and ‘yoke (for draught animals)’. A
possible connection between in its original
sense ’crosspiece’ and 255 ‘horizontal,
side’ in terms of word-family is also noted by
Schuessler. OT1968:899; MS1995:v2:1162-
3v1:296-7; KJ1970:158-9; AS2007:277-8. We
suggest taking the central element as ‘big
stumpy horn(s)’, along with ‘go’.
Mnemonic: BIG STUMPY HORNS GO ON THE
SCALES
all means’, giving ‘buy in aggressively’, and
‘buy’ as the generalized sense (Ogawa).
Shirakawa, alternatively, takes the associated
sense of as ‘bring together’, and considers
the original meaning of as probably
having been ‘reconciliation, compromise’. See
also 701. OT1968:962; SS1984:315,300-01;
DJ2009:v2:511. As with 1340, we suggest taking
as ‘a well’ 1575 and as ‘twice’ 706.
Mnemonic: BUY A WELL TWICE USING SHELL
MONEY
1346
L1
乞
kou
beg
3 strokes
koJIKIbeggar, begging
itomagoifarewell visit
amagoipraying for rain
OBI and seal forms () . The graph
‘vapor’, based originally on a pictograph depicting
some sort of vapor (cloud, or exhaled
breath), was borrowed as a convenient means
of writing another word (a near-homophone
in early Chinese) meaning ‘ask for, beg’. Later
(post-Shuowen period), so as to avoid ambiguity
in writing, the corresponding word for ‘ask
for, beg’ came to be written slightly differently,
resulting in . See also 12. QX2000:326;
MS1995:v2:726-8; AS2007:422-3; GY2008:34;
OT1968: 27. We suggest taking