Time for a bit of vague linguistic tomfoolery.
Radical Spotlight: 山 (mountain)
Like many simply-drawn kanji, 山 is a pictogram. I think it’s fairly obvious.
出 (to exit / leave). This is an interesting kanji etymologically. Originally it was an ideogram of a foot and a cave, suggesting leaving a cavern. Later it was reinterpreted as a plant growing out of the ground. Finally, it assumed this double-mountain form.
仙. This means cent and is a Joyo kanji, but apparently the word is usually spelt in kana. Its original and now perhaps secondary meaning was hermit or wizard; it seems to have become cent by rebus (phonetic loan). There is some debate of whether this kanji was made as an ideogram (man + mountain, ie. mountain man) or as a phonosemantic compound.
辿 (to follow). The etymology looks like an ideogram (mountain path), but that could be an illusion.
This radical is used for a few hyogaiji actually to do with mountains, eg. 岶 (dense mountain vegetation) and 圸 (steep mountain slope).
疝 (stomach ache, hyogaiji). Here, 山 was the phonetic element.
岩 (boulder) / cliff. This is a simple ideogram (mountain + rock). At some stage it displaced an elaborate phono-semantic compound 巖, which is now a jinmeiyo kanji with an altered meaning.
The mountain radical is used in the fabulous patchwork hyogaiji 糶, meaning auction.
One of my favourite kanji is 島 (island), which uses the bird radical. It’d be nice to think that it was an ideogram, but in reality it seems to be a phonosemantic compound. It has a hyogaiji variant 嶋.
崩 (crumble, die, demolish).
嵐 (storm)
閊 (to be obstructed)
After working on this, I was inspired to come up with a list of some of the most complex kanji.
鑰 25 – lock. 金 + 龠
鬣 25 – mane. 髟 + 巤
鼈 25 – soft-shelled turtle. 敝 + 黽
黶 26 – mole / scar. 厭 + 黑
黷 27 – make dirty. 𧶠 + 黑
黌 25 – school.
鬮 26 – lottery. 鬥 + 龜
驪 29 – black horse. 馬 + 麗
鹽 25 – salt. 監 + 鹵
鸛 28 – stork. 雚 + 鳥
鸚 28 – parrot. 嬰 + 鳥
鱶 26 – shark. 魚 + 養
鱸 27 – sea bass. 魚 + 盧
In Latin, we’re going to do a Spotlight on Per-Verbs.
Wiktionary describes the per- prefix as having the function:
- Used to make adjectives or verbs that are “very” something.
- Used to form verbs that are intensive or completive, conveying the idea of doing something all the way through or entirely.
There are a great many per- verbs, of which these are only a small selection. Sometimes it seems like the distinction between a per- verb and its root is unclear, eg. between perfluo and fluo. Perhaps it is just a matter of emphasis.
peragro I wander
perbachor I revel throughout
percido I smash / cut to pieces
perdo I destroy / squander
pereo I vanish
perficio I complete
pergaudeo I rejoice greatly
perhibeo I hold out
perluceo I shine through
permaneo I stay to the end
pernego I refuse entirely
peroleo I emit a penetrating odour
perpello I strike or push violently
perquiro I enquire diligently
perrepto I crawl / creep through
persedeo I remain seated
pertendo I persevere
pervenio I arrive