Other Squished Gems

If there’s one thing it’s hard to destroy, it’s a jewel. Maybe that’s why someone thought it wouldn’t do any harm to remove the dot from 玉 and squish 王 off to the left in the following kanji:

珍 (CHIN, mezura(shii): rare)

The “rare” kanji combines components meaning “jewel,” “person,” and “hair”!

珠 (SHU, JU, tama: gem, jewel), as in 真珠 (shinju: pearl, genuine + jewel).

This kanji combines “jewel” and “red,” but 朱 doesn’t mean “red” here. Instead it conveys a sense of roundness via its phonetic qualities. But of course. We’re in kanji-land, where you need to stop expecting things to make sense!

珊 (SAN: coral)

This shows up in 珊瑚 (sango: coral, coral + coral), a doubly bejeweled word. I can’t actually confirm that the radical in 珊 is “jewel,” but it has to be, doesn’t it?

When you see a 王 radical, it doesn’t always mean “jewel,” and it isn’t always shunted off to the left. Sometimes, 王 still means king:

皇 (KŌ, Ō, kimi: emperor; sumera: related to the emperor)

Well, actually that’s the only case I can find in which 王 means king. I thought I had a shoo-in here, but I was wrong:

聖 (SEI, SHŌ: holy, sacred; hijiri: emperor, sage, saint, master)

This 王 formerly meant “person standing still” and had a different shape.

Then there are some hard-to-classify examples. To my surprise, 王 means “jewel” in the next two ultra-common kanji:

理 (RI, kotowari: reason)
現 (GEN, ara(wasu): to express)

But I can’t figure out what this shape means in the next two:

望 (BŌ, MŌ, nozo(mu): to desire, to hope for)
瑞 (ZUI, mizu: good omen, Switzerland, Sweden)

This last kanji plays a part in a compound that made me laugh out loud:

瑞穂の国 (Mizuhonokuni: Japan, Land of Vigorous Rice Plants)
     good omen + ear (of grain) + country

Finally, here’s a fun 王 kanji in which the shape means neither “jewel” nor “king”:

琴 (KIN: harp; koto (the musical instrument))

Here, each instance of 王 is likely a pictograph of the spool on a harp that enables people to adjust the tension of each string.

Besides a harp and a koto, you create lots of other instruments if you add just one kanji:

Add wood to get a xylophone: 木琴 (mokkin: xylophone)
     wood + harp
Add wind to get an organ: 風琴 (fūkin: organ, accordion)
     wind + harp

We’ve already talked about accordions! And it turns out that when we did, we saw 琴.

Add “carry in hand” to get a violin: 提琴 (teikin: violin)
      to carry in hand + harp
Add the West (!) to get a piano: 洋琴 (yōkin: piano)
     Western + harp

A piano is a Western harp?!?!?

If you want to play on someone’s heartstrings, here’s how to do it:

琴線 (kinsen: heartstrings)     harp + line

And here’s the ultimate 王 word, with a grand total of four such shapes:

琴瑟相和す (kinshitsu aiwasu: happily married)
     koto + large koto + mutual + harmony

In 瑟, the two instances of 王 again most likely represent spooled strings on a harp. Clearly there are lots of strings involved in a happy marriage. Or … you have to pull a lot of strings to have a gem of a marriage. Or your koto has to live in harmony with your spouse’s big koto. It’s necessary (必) for this to happen now (今). It all makes sense somehow!

Back to Henshall on the Etymology of 環 …

Back to the Blog …