480531170

1967
L1
乏
BŌ, toboshii
scarce, destitute
4 strokes
BINBŌpoverty
KETSUBŌdearth
TAIBŌausterity
Bronze ; seal . Etymology unclear. Bronze
and seal forms are often seen as mirror images
of bronze and seal for 43 (‘correct’), but
scrutiny raises question marks. Qiu has doubts.
Shirakawa suggests the graph originally
showed a corpse laid out face up, but this too
is doubtful. The graph’s very simplicity makes
it hard to interpret at present. OT1968:25;
GY2008:100; QX2000:206; KJ1970:787-8;
MS1995:v1:20-21,702-3. We suggest a zigzag.
Mnemonic: LIFE OF A DESTITUTE LIKENED TO
A ZIGZAG PATH
1968
忙
BŌ, isogashii
Very late graph. Has 164 ‘heart, mind’, with
busy
985 (‘die’) as phonetic with associated
L2
6 strokes
sense taken as i] ‘scatter’ (Ogawa), or ii] ‘vague,
distant’ (Shirakawa), or iii] ‘duties; unsettled’
TABŌvery busy
(Katō), thus original meaning ‘feelings are
HANBŌpressure of work
unsettled’. Shirakawa notes first used for ‘busy’
BŌSATSU‘work to death’
from Tang and Song dynasties. OT1968360;
SS1984:795; KJ1970:771-2.
Mnemonic: HEART DEATH DUE TO BEING
TOO BUSY
1969
坊
BŌ
priest, boy, town
L2
7 strokes
BŌZU*priest
BŌyaboy
BŌKAN‘around town’
Seal ; late graph (later version of Shuowen).
Has 64 ‘earth, ground’, and 223 ‘side,
direction, square’. Taken in one view as semantic
and phonetic meaning ‘square’, giving
‘square-shaped division/plot of land’ (Ogawa).
A different analysis takes as phonetic with
associated sense ‘plot of land’ and , giving
‘plot of land’ (Shirakawa); ‘town’ is an extended
large-scale sense. Shirakawa notes that
was used to denote plots of land – typically
square – in a city divided up in terms of a
traditional grid system. In turn, came to be
applied in a Buddhist context for the divisions
of space in a temple (including rooms), and the
chief priest was known as BŌZU, a term
which later came to be used as a general word
meaning ‘(Buddhist) priest’; ‘boy’ seems to be
a generalized sense deriving from ‘young boy
priest’. ‘Town’ is now quite rare as a meaning.
OT1968:214; SS1984:795.
Mnemonic: BOY-PRIEST LIVES EARTHY LIFE
‘ON THE SIDE’ IN TOWN
1970
妨
BŌ, samatageru
hamper, obstruct
L1
7 strokes
BŌGAIobstruction
BŌGAIBUTSUobstacle
samatagenashiwithout a hitch
Seal . Has 37 ‘woman’, with 223
(‘side, direction’) as phonetic with associated
sense taken in one view as ‘obstruct’ (Ogawa;
Tōdō says ‘hold hands out to both sides and
obstruct’), giving ‘woman who obstructs’ or
‘one who extends hands to both sides and
prevents others from approaching a woman’
588 The Remaining 1130 Characters