480531170

ut ‘fire’. This commentator (Gu) still recognises
‘ice’ as the determinative in the seal
form, explaining this as being by analogy
(melting of ice and smelting metal both
resulting in liquid states). Note: On the basis
of sound values and older forms (bronze and
seal) the phonetic element in is to be
taken not as 183 ‘stand, platform’ (traditional
form: ), but a different graph of the
same shape meaning ‘(say) I, me’. The latter
consists of 22 ‘mouth; speak’, with
(interpretations vary, but include ‘make one’s
own’, or ‘plow’) as phonetic with associated
sense ‘I, me’. MS1995:v1:116-8,204-5,188-90;
OT1968:103; GY2008:487. For mnemonic
purposes only, we suggest taking here as
‘platform’, or alternatively as nose and
as mouth 22.
Mnemonic: A PLATFORM MADE OF ICE CAN
EASILY MELT
Or: ICE COVERS NOSE AND MOUTH –
HOPEFULLY IT WILL MELT SOON!
2029
L1
弥
8
ya, iya, BI, MI
increasingly,
all the more
strokes
Yayoi*period c400BC-cAD250
yaJIumamob, onlookers
SHAMIBuddhist acolyte
Seal ; a late graph (Shuowen); traditional
. The seal form consists of 107 ‘bow’,
with a variant of 1419 “Imperial seal’ (q.v.)
minus the dot low down, as phonetic with
associated sense ‘slacken, loosen’; this gives
‘unstring a bow’; meaning then extended to
‘slacken, loosen’. Senses such as ‘increasingly’
are the result of a loan use. The right-hand
element of perhaps reflects adaptation
to block script of a cursified version of this
graph, with the number of strokes reduced
through writing cursively. KJ1970:484;
KZ2001:757-8/3671; OT1968:340. Difficult
mnemonically, but we suggest taking the
right-hand part as variant ‘person’