480531170

1517
L1
浄
JŌ
pure, clean
9 strokes
JŌKApurification
FUJŌ filth
JŌSUI clear water
Seal ; traditional . Consists of 42 ‘water’,
and (traditional form of 558 ‘conflict’) as
phonetic, with associated sense disputed. Gu
and Ogawa regard as an abbreviation of ;
both listed in Shuowen; Gu lists a bronze form
for . consists of ‘water’, plus (traditional
form of 548 ‘quiet, calm’, see also 558),
taken here by Gu as semantic and phonetic,
meaning ‘clear, without impurities’ (regarding
still water as clear, unmuddied). The meaning
of is given in Shuowen as the name of a
pool near the capital of Lu (a state in ancient
China). Given this, Katō treats the associated
sense of in as unclear (Ogawa also takes
this approach), and regards the meaning ‘clear,
pure’ for as a borrowed usage in place of .
Despite some differences, all the above scholars
are in agreement in tracing the origins of
/ back to . GY2008:700-701; OT1968:574;
KJ1970:431.
Mnemonic: CONFLICT OVER PURE, CLEAR
WATER
1518
L1
剰
JŌ, amatsusae
surplus, besides
11 strokes
JŌYOsurplus
YOJŌ surplus
KAJŌ surplus, excess
Bronze and seal forms (): , . is
considered to be a popular form used for ,
which itself comprises 10 ‘shell (currency),
valuables’, and (traditional form of 1731
‘[royal] We’) as semantic and phonetic in
the sense ‘give’, an extension of the original
meaning ‘move (something) along’, giving
‘send/give valuables’; Katō is in general agreement.
According to Gu, this referred originally
to giving a dowry, and ‘excess, surplus’
evolved as an extended sense. As to the popular
form , Ogawa interprets this as /
198 ‘knife, cut, sword’, with 336 (‘ride, load
onto’) as phonetic with associated sense ‘excess’,
giving ‘excess which is cut off’, and hence
‘surplus, superfluous’. The meanings ‘besides,
moreover’ are extended. GY2008:1448-9,1096;
KJ1970:887; OT1968:119.
Mnemonic: RIDE WITH SURPLUS SWORD
1519
L2
畳
JŌ, tatami, tatamu
tatami mat, size,
fold, pile, repeat
12 strokes
JŌKUrepeated phrase
NIJŌ two-mat size
tatamikomu fold up
Seal ; traditional . Has 1188 (‘good,
proper’), here in its original sense ‘sacrificial
meat piled up’ with emphasis on ‘piled up’, and
originally 1502 ( ‘bright, clear’; originally,
depiction of stars in the sky) (later 畾 [CO,
‘divided fields’], regarded here as variant of ),
as phonetic with associated sense ‘many’, thus
overall meaning ‘pile up, accumulate, repeat’.
Used in Japanese for the verb tatamu ‘fold over,
pile up’, and then for tatami ‘mat’. Originally,
such mats were probably quite thin and readily
folded. Later, though, they became much more
substantial in construction, having a stiff core
by tradition made of rice straw covered with
a woven cover of rush straw. Being of a set
size (approximately six feet by three, though
there can be minor variation), with the length
always twice the width, tatami mats are also
used as a measure of room size. The abbreviated
modern form , which has lost the short
vertical stroke from its lower element and
two ‘fields’, was officially adopted into the Tōyō
kanji List promulgated in 1946. OT1968:673;
GY2008:1673; KJ1970:718-9. We suggest taking
as ‘not quite proper’. Take as ‘field’ 63.
Mnemonic: REPEATEDLY FOLD PILES OF
PROPER TATAMI MATS IN A FIELD!?
450 The Remaining 1130 Characters