480531170

1383
剤
ZAI
medicine, drug
L1
10 strokes
YAKUZAImedicine
YAKUZAISHIpharmacist
KANGEZAIlaxative
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen); traditional
. The seal form has 198 ‘knife, cut’, and the
equivalent of 1578 ‘equal, similar’ (traditional
form: ) as semantic and phonetic, giving ‘cut
and make even’. Tōdō takes this to refer to the
ancient practice of cutting tallies of equal shape
to mark an agreement, as well as to preparing
equal individual doses of traditional medicines.
Over time, the medicine-related sense became
predominant. KJ1970:423; TA1965:770-73;
OT1968:119.
Mnemonic: MEDICINAL DRUG NEEDS TO BE
CUT UP IN EQUAL MEASURES
1384
崎
saki, misaki, KI
cape, steep
L1
11 strokes
NagasakiNagasaki
Shimazakia surname
KIKUsteep road
A late, post-Shuowen graph. Yupian takes to
mean ‘uneven mountain road’. Ogawa interprets
as 26 ‘mountain’, and 1174 (‘strange,
odd’) as phonetic with associated sense
‘stick out prominently’ or ‘winding’, and notes
‘promontory’ as a Japanese-only usage, as does
Shirakawa. OT1968:304; SS1984:146.
Mnemonic: THAT ODD MOUNTAIN ON THE
CAPE LOOKS STEEP
1385
L1
削
SAKU, kezuru
reduce, pare, sheath
19 strokes
SAKUJOdeletion
SAKUGENreduction
kezuritorushave off
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen); traditional .
Has 198 ‘knife, sword, cut’, and ( = modern
1490 ‘resemble’), taken in one view as phonetic
with associated sense ‘make small’, giving
‘shave/plane, whittle down’ (Ogawa, Tōdō), or in
similar vein, ‘cut off meat’ (Shirakawa, taking
as ‘small piece of meat’ [treating as 38 ‘small,
little’ over 209 ‘meat, flesh’ in its variant form
]). In this view, the other meaning ‘sheath,
scabbard’ is seen as a borrowed usage of .
An alternative analysis of this graph takes as
‘knife, sword’, and as phonetic with associated
sense ‘contain’, thus ‘container for knife/
sword’, i.e. ‘sheath, scabbard’ (Katō); in this analysis,
conversely, ‘shave/plane, pare’ is seen as the
borrowed usage. OT1968:117,816; TA1965:255-
7; SS1984:344; KJ1970:607. Suggest taking as
small bit of meat /.
Mnemonic: USE KNIFE TO PARE MEAT INTO
REDUCED SMALL BITS
1386
L1
柵
9
SAKU, shigarami/mu
fence, stockade,
entangle, weir
strokes
TESSAKUiron railing
SAKUgakifence
shigaramiweir
OBI , seal . Has 73 ‘wood, tree’, and
884 (originally, different-sized turtle shells tied
together after use in divination, for writing on;
‘book, volume’) as phonetic with associated
sense ‘uneven bundles’, giving ‘fence made
of unequal size bundles of wood.’ ‘Entangle’
is an extended meaning. MS1995:v1:658-60;
OT1968:499; TA1965:483-6.
Mnemonic: MAKE A FENCE WITH BUNDLES
OF BOUND WOODEN BOOKS
410 The Remaining 1130 Characters