Dense and Detailed: Part 3
Friday, April 4th, 2008
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We saw two weeks back that 密 has three disparate meanings:
1) Close, dense, thick, compact, tight
2) Minuteness, carefulness
3) Secret, private, illegal, stealthy
Thus far, we’ve only explored meaning #3.
As I’ve said, it’s odd that these meanings appear to be so far apart. But are they really? Maybe not. Let’s look at some takes on secrecy:
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The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, then having the two as close together as possible. —George Burns (1896–1996) |
He’s obviously linking secrecy (meaning #3) with closeness, density, compactness (meaning #1). OK, let’s try another:
| The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well. —Horace Walpole (1717–1797) |
This Walpole fellow clearly linked secrecy (meaning #3) with careful, highly detailed exploration (meaning #2). And I’m pretty sure that this quote espouses a deep love of kanji, while also advocating general curiosity. So … kanji curiosity is a good thing, right?
Let’s hear words of wisdom from one more source:
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The secret of being a bore is to tell everything. —Voltaire (1694–1778 ) |
Oh, dear. Why do I have a terrible feeling that this, too, refers to Kanji Curiosity?
OK, without further ado, let’s look at meanings #1 and #2.
1. Being Dense
Here are some examples of 密 as “dense”:
密林 (mitsurin: dense forest, jungle) dense + forest
Not much to say about this word, except that I like its straightforward logic!
過密 (kamitsu: overcrowded) to exceed + dense
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Posted by Eve Kushner in Kanji Curiosity | 6 Comments »
