テキ in 形声: 適・滴・嫡・摘・敵・鏑


適・滴・嫡・摘・敵・鏑

Since all the listed above kanji are pronounced テキ and have the same common
element, it is safe to assume that this element is pronounced テキ. The
composition of this element is 立・古・冂. Unfortunately I cannot find this element
neither among Japanese no traditional Chinese characters. What does element テキ
mean in the above 形声? Is it a changed form of some other 漢字?




This element is 啇, U+5547 in Unicode, and it is used primarily for its sound
テキ in these kanji. It is hardly used as a character on its own in Japanese,
but you should be able to find it listed in larger 漢和辞典.

In 新漢語林, for example, this character is listed under the radical 口 plus 8
strokes (11 total) with the following meanings:

> ① **もと** 。ねもと。  
>  ②したたる。⇒滴。

The former meaning is presumably what semantic sense, if any, can be found in
characters containing 啇 as an element.

In Henshall's book _A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters_ , he says this
character means 'base; starting point' (p.236) as part of other characters.
[Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%95%87) lists its meanings in
English as 'stem; root'.

Henshall suggests that 啇 is a variant form of 啻, but he says the origin of
this character is unclear. It seems that the top part is 帝 'emperor/altar',
and the bottom part is 口, which may represent a block at the bottom of the
altar; or 口 may represent 'mouth/say', the compound giving 'emperor's words',
which were seen as the basis or starting point of all actions, hence 'starting
point'. These are just theories, and I'm not sure which if either is correct.

Note that in addition to the 漢音 reading テキ, this character also has the 呉音
reading チャク, which you can see mainly in the derived character 嫡, as in the
word 嫡子 (read ちゃくし).




Yes,「啇」is a changed form of「啻」.「啻」([Zhengzhang
OC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstructions_of_Old_Chinese#Zhengzhang_\(1981%E2%80%931995\)):
**/*hljeɡs/** ) is made from a
phonetic「帝」([OC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Chinese): **/*teːɡs/** )
and a「口」(function undetermined). In Japanese _on'yomi_ , this would be
equivalent to saying that「啇{てき}」contains a phonetic「帝{てい}」.

> The relation between「啇」and「啻」should be fairly straightforward to see, if you
> pull the vertical portions of the 5th and 6th strokes of「啻」all the way
> downwards (and account for some minor stroke changes).
>
>
> [![啻](https://i.stack.imgur.com/uyLYv.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/uyLYv.png)
>
> For reference, the glyph evolution sequence:
>
> `[西周](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Zhou)  
> [金](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_bronze_inscriptions)  
> [![enter image description
> here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/B2hGP.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/B2hGP.png)  
> 師酉簋  
> [集成4288](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=4288&jgwfl=)``西周  
> 金  
> [![enter image description
> here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0mzEa.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0mzEa.png)  
> 訇簋  
> [集成4321](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=4321&jgwfl=)``  
> [篆](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_seal_script)  
> [![enter image description
> here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JT0Et.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JT0Et.png)  
> [說文解字](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuowen_Jiezi)  
>  ``今  
> [楷](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_script)  
> [![enter image description
> here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8btgM.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8btgM.png)  
>  
>  ``今  
> 楷  
> [![enter image description
> here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/TKHrG.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/TKHrG.png)  
>  
>  `
>
> Earlier publications recorded the stand-alone character as「啻」, while the
> component form appears as「啇」, heavily influenced by the shape of the
> [_Shuowen_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuowen_Jiezi) [small
> seal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_seal_script) form (#3 in the above
> sequence). Later publications either isolated the「啇」component from composite
> characters (such as「適」・「滴」・... in the question) and gave it its own entry
> (including its own sound and meaning), or recorded「啇」as a variant form
> of「啻」, so now we have both「啻」and「啇」in Unicode.

The original meaning of「啻」isn't clear (if it had one at all), and it was used
to represent a wide variety of similar-sounding Old Chinese words, notably
during the [fragmented era of Eastern
Zhou](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Zhou),
including「適」,「敵」,「禘」,「帝」,「幘」.

* * *

**References:**

  * 黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》
  * 何琳儀《戰國古文字典：戰國文字聲系》
  * [小學堂](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/)
  * [國學大師](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/)
    * [中國社會科學院考古研究{{kr:所}}《殷周金文集成》](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/)

