申し上げる
もうしあげる · moushiageru · JLPT N4 · verb-ichidan
to say
🙇 申す (humbly say) + 上げる (raise up): I lift my words up to you
A compound of 申す, the humble verb for say, and 上げる, to raise or give upward. Humble speech lowers the speaker, so the words travel up to a superior. Same pattern as 差し上げる (humbly give).
上 — horizontal line above a baseline
上 is an indicative character (指事): a short stroke placed above a longer reference line shows the concept of 'above' or 'up'. The earliest oracle-bone forms used two horizontal lines for this; the modern shape added a vertical stroke for clarity. The core meaning of 'upper, above, to ascend' has stayed stable for millennia.