480531170

giving ‘(person) leans over and collapses’
(through tiredness) (Tōdō). Despite minor
variation, a broad consensus can be seen
in interpretation of this graph. OT1968:678;
KJ1970:794; TA1965:661.
Mnemonic: SKIN SICKNESS CAN BE
EXHAUSTING
1883
L2
被
10
HI, kōmuru, ōu
sustain, cover, wear,
receive
strokes
HIGAISHAvictim
HIFUKUcovering, coating
HIKOKUNINdefendant
Seal . Has /444 ‘clothing’, with 396
(‘leather, hide, skin’) as phonetic with associated
sense ‘cover’, thus ‘garment to cover the
body’. By extension, ‘wear’, then by further
extension ‘receive, sustain’. TA1965:660;
SS1984:712; OT1968:903.
Mnemonic: SUSTAINED BY WEARING
CLOTHES TO COVER SKIN
1884
扉
HI, tobira
door, front page
L1
12 strokes
KAIHIdoor opening
MONPIdoors of gate
tobiraEfrontispiece
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 120
‘door’, with 794 (‘not, fault’; originally
wings) as phonetic with associated sense
taken as ‘open’, giving ‘opening doors’ (Ogawa),
or ii] ‘divide/separate into two’, giving
‘doors which separate and open to right and
left’ (Tōdō), or – in much similar vein - iii] ‘line
up/arranged to right and left’, giving ‘doors
which move to right and left’ (Shirakawa).
OT1968:399; TA1965:726-8; SS1984:713.
Mnemonic: A DOOR IS NOT A DOOR!? MUST
MAKE THE FRONT PAGE!
1885
L1
碑
14
HI
tombstone, monument
strokes
HIMEIepitaph
SEKIHItombstone
KINENHImonument
Seal ; late graph (Shuowen). Has 47 ‘stone’,
with 1881 (‘humble’) as phonetic with associated
sense taken as i] ‘small, short’, thus ‘small
standing/upright stone’ (Katō), or ii] ‘obstruct’,
thus ‘stone to obstruct sunlight’ (Ogawa).
These two proposed etymologies are to some
extent complementary, as Katō notes the first
use of such upright stones was as a device to
see the length of shadows from the sun. Later,
such stones were used to help lower coffins
on ropes down into the ground (Shirakawa
notes this was facilitated by holes bored in the
stones), and from that practice there also developed
the custom (Han onwards) of recording
details of the deceased onto the stones.
KJ1970:799; OT1968:713; SS1984:715.
Mnemonic: TOMBSTONE IS A HUMBLE STONE
562 The Remaining 1130 Characters