罪 (tsumi: crime, guilt, sin)
Hmm, I seem to keep bumping into this kanji, which looks top-heavy and therefore funny in contrast to 非 (hi: fault, error; non-) and 悲 (kana(shii): sad). And all three of these have such negative meanings! What’s going on?
According to Henshall, 非 originally depicted bird wings as they spread apart during takeoff. That’s not negative at all! Originally, 非 meant “to move in opposite directions.” This came to have contrarian associations; the character acquired the meaning of “anti-” and then “un-” and “not.” After that, 非 came to mean “misdemeanor, fault, going against the rules.”
In 悲, the wings are still pulling apart, making the heart (心) split open with sadness. The 非 also acts phonetically to express “sad.”
As for 罪, the kanji that prompted this investigation, the etymology is murkier, unfortunately. The top component,
, means “net” and has connotations of “catching.” Depending on which expert you consult, 非 either contributes the sense of “to catch” or means “rebels,” deriving from the sense of the wings’ moving in opposite directions. Together, then, the components yield “to catch rebels in a net.”
Some common terms with 罪:
罪を犯 (tsumi o oka(su): to commit a crime)
crime + to commit (a crime)If you invert this, you find an even more common term, and you see that the on-yomi of 罪 is ZAI:
犯罪 (hanzai: crime) crime + crime
罪悪 (zaiaku: crime, vice, sin) sin + bad
罪深 (tsumibuka(i): sinful) sin + deepTo plead “not guilty,” you’ll need this word:
無罪 (muzai: not guilty, innocent) no + guilt
If you flip these kanji around and use kun-yomi instead of on-yomi, the verdict is still the same (though the breakdown changes slightly):
罪の無 (tsumi no na(i): innocent, guiltless) sin + no
As you may have noticed from the breakdowns, 罪 can mean “crime,” “guilt,” and “sin” at various times, according to Halpern. These words seem farther apart in English; “crime” crops up in legal contexts, whereas one hears “sin” in religious contexts. “Guilt” is all over the place, so let’s set that aside.
The breakdowns above suggest that the concepts of crime and sin mix seamlessly in Japanese (and perhaps Chinese). But maybe not, as we can see from one more word, which turns out to have two readings:
罪人 (zainin: criminal) crime + person
This is the more common reading. It features two on-yomi.
罪人 (tsumibito: sinner) crime + person
This contains two kun-yomi.
When compounds use only kun-yomi, these words tend to have come from the language spoken in Japan before the arrival of kanji. The contrast between “criminal” (the Chinese reading) and “sinner” (the Japanese reading) made me muse about different priorities in the two cultures. But to my surprise, tsumibito connects not to Buddhism or Shinto (as I would have guessed) but rather to Christianity and its concept of original sin (原罪, genzai: origin + sin). How about that?!
, means “net” and has connotations of “catching.” Depending on which expert you consult, 非 either contributes the sense of “to catch” or means “rebels,” deriving from the sense of the wings’ moving in opposite directions. Together, then, the components yield “to catch rebels in a net.”
