Making sense of Tom Thumb's neighbors

[urabito1741]

Minasan shitsureishimasu.

I can understand the relationships among 人差し, 中 (or 高高), and 子 (or 小) with 指. They make graphic sense (mostly).

But can anyone explain the relationship between 薬 and 指 that leads to the meaning of third or ring finger when combined: 薬指 ??

Was that digit used for some ancient medical purpose (e.g., administering some homeopathic かぜ薬)? Or perhaps is it the 指 least (or most) likely to get stuck in a 薬瓶 ??

If my question appears more than once, it's because my first attempt to submit it to the forum resulted in a internet error of some sort. Gomenasai.

Urabito1741

[Shaydwyrm]

From what I remember, the 薬指 was traditionally the finger used to stir up/dissolve medicine.

Fun fact - according to the ja.wiki article, another (less common, I guess) name for the 薬指 is 無名指（むめいし）, meaning no-name finger.

[jemstone]

yea... and there's a good reason for it...

the thumb (母指) is the most important member and has a name in chinese which sorts of translates to "mother finger" (probably means the mother of all fingers perhaps... =P)

the index finger (手指) is also the next important one coz you use this finger to point at things, to feel the wind direction (to dig your nose perhaps?). it's associated chinese name means "finger" literally coz when you show people your finger, that's probably the finger you gonna show them.

the middle finger (中指) also has a chinese name which translates back to it's english name, the middle finger. it's purpose... well... you get the idea.

the little finger (小指), the pinky, also has it's name as little finger.

as you can see, all these fingers have a name (or position) associated with it. it's only the ring finger that has something else that's associated with it. people don't say "the fourth finger".. they call it "the ring finger". it doesn't have a name of it's own (it's like saying, "i'm the boy who carries the groceries" instead of saying "i'm john") thus "nameless finger" or 無名指.

edit:
these are explanations given to me (when i was a kid) from my aunt.