125. The "Old" Radical: 老 and 耂
The "old" radical 老 contains a few surprises, but before I present those, let's cover the basics.
This six-stroke radical looks identical to the following kanji:
老 (609: old)
We can call this on-duty radical おい, which likely derives from 老い (おい: old age).
Our radical takes its variant form 耂 in two more Joyo kanji in which it is on duty:
考 (117: to think; study; examination)
者 (298: person; one)
The Japanese refer to the four-stroke variant as おいかんむり or おいがしら. Both -かんむり and -かしら (voiced as -がしら in the latter name) represent the third radical position, the top of a character. (To understand this more, consult "Radical Terms" and see the Radical Positions section.)
Nelson mentions ろう as another possible name for our radical, but my proofreader can find no evidence of that in his sources.
As for English names, "old" works, as does "old man."
Photo Credit: Yoshikazu Kunugi
Etymologies
Now for the aforementioned surprises! According to Henshall in his newer edition, the ancient forms of 老 and 考 were virtually indistinguishable. The early shape showed "an aged and fragile person with (a) bent back and often with long hair, leaning on a stick," he says. Thus, the character symbolized "old person (with stick for support)."
In the bronze stage, the lower half of 考 changed to something closer to what we see today. This bottom component serves as a phonetic with the associated sense "bent over" or "old" (depending on which scholar you ask). Even after that transformation, the whole character still meant "old person." Subsequently, the ancient Chinese borrowed 考 to represent a homophone meaning "examine, consider."
As 者 primarily means "person," shouldn't that character also depict someone elderly? No, says Henshall. The bronze form shows "firewood projecting up out of a container." The wood could be burning. Originally, the shape meant "collect and store much firewood." The "person" definition is a loan usage.
So 老 and 考 originally represented a human but no longer do. And 者 symbolized firewood but came to mean "person"!
Photo Credit: Glennis Dolce