Mirror Images: Part 2
Friday, July 11th, 2008
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Long time no see! Speaking of length, last time we looked at 長 (CHŌ, naga), which usually means “long” or “chief.” In that discussion, we encountered the following word:
足長 (ashinaga: long-leggedness) legs + long
And we saw how this compound puts the long legs in daddy longlegs:
足長おじさん (ashinaga-ojisan: daddy longlegs)
Although people usually write ojisan (uncle) in hiragana, you can also represent this word with 叔父さん, which breaks down as uncle + father.
On Daddy Longlegs (the Spiders) …
Other Animals with Length to Them …
What happens if we take those long legs and turn them on their head? That is, what if we invert the compound? We get this:
長足 (chōsoku: rapid or giant strides) long + legs
Everything changes: the yomi (from kun-kun to on-on) and the meaning. The idea of “strides” makes me imagine that the spider itself could still be in the picture. In fact, I want to say this:
足長おじさんが長足で歩きます。
Ashinaga ojisan ga chōsoku de arukimasu.
The daddy longlegs walks with great strides.
But in fact, the “great strides” more often turn out to be a metaphorical way of referring to progress.
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Posted by Eve Kushner in Kanji Curiosity | 6 Comments »
