The 然 of 騒然

騒然 (sōzen: noisy, tumultuous)

I’m forever thrown off by the suffix 然. I don’t know why that is, but I want to take a moment to sort it all out, if you don’t mind.

It offers scads of yomi:

ZEN, NEN: as, like
sō, sa: such
so(shite) or sō(shite): and

Oh!

sa(ru): a certain, such
sa(redo): but, however
sa(ri to wa): if so, well
shika(shi): but, however

This merits another “oh!”

shika(ru): to be so
shika(ru ni): but, nevertheless
shika(ri): yes, quite so
shika(rubeki): as it should be, proper, right

Whew!!!

We see 然 in these common words (for which I’ll use Halpern’s definition of 然 as “state of being,” though that doesn’t match the definitions listed above!):

全然 (zenzen: not at all)     a total of + state of being

Funny that this combines two different ZENs, rather than being 全々.

突然 (totsuzen: suddenly)     abruptly + state of being
公然 (kōzen: public)     public + state of being

We’ve seen this before.

間然 (kanzen: open to criticism)     between + state of being

We’ve seen this before, too!

In such cases, Halpern calls 然 “a suffix attached to a one-character base to express a state of being or quality.” In that way, this suffix helps to form modifiers, he says.

A second meaning is “so, to be definitely so, to be as it is.” That meaning shapes the following compounds:

自然 (shizen: natural)     by itself + to be as it is
当然 (tōzen: naturally, as a matter of course)
     appropriate + to be as it is
天然の (tennen no: natural)     nature + to be as it is

Ah, this plays a part in 天然痘 (tennentō: smallpox, natural (1st 2 chars.) + pox).

Wonder what unnatural pox would be! Chicken pox? (No, that’s 水痘, suitō, “water pox”!) A pox on your house?

Two Types of “Natural” …

A Great Poxy Expression …

Sounds like 然 has to do with the natural course of things, right? It does, and sometimes coincidences and accidents are the natural course of things:

偶然 (gūzen: chance, accident, coincidence)
     accident + to be as it is

Even accidents have a “meant to be” quality, I suppose. So does randomness!

漫然 (manzen: random, aimless, rambling)
     rambling + to be as it is

The first kanji here is the same MAN as in manga, 漫画 (comic + picture)! But the 漫 of 漫画 means “comic,” not “rambling.” I bet some manga ramble, though! And apparently, based on the water radical , rambling and comics involve water!

Here’s an instance of 然 that qualifies as “none of the above” in terms of meaning:

然も (shikamo: moreover, furthermore)

This is the first 然 word that’s not a compound and in which 然 has the kun-yomi of shika. But this isn’t the shika that means “only” or “nothing but.” That’s simply written in hiragana. Actually, this one usually is, too!

If you double 然, you can make the following word:

然々 (shikajika: such and such, and so on)     so + so

Given the breakdown, you might want to interpret 然々 as “so-so,” but don’t!

After all this analysis, I don’t think I feel any clearer about the essence of 然. Well, given its multifaceted nature, perhaps that was meant to be and was no accident!

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