Happy Birthday to Whom?
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
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What do you think the following word means?
虚誕 (kyotan)
The first kanji, 虚 (KYO, KO, muna(shii)), means “empty” or “false,” as we saw long ago. You may recognize 誕 from 誕生日 (tanjōbi: birthday, to be born + to be born + day), where 誕 means “to be born, birth.” So 虚誕 is a false birth?! No, 誕 has other meanings, and the pertinent one in 虚誕 relates to the original definition of 誕.
In 誕, the radical is 言 (words). That’s not entirely obvious, because every component in 誕 can serve as a radical!
Meanwhile, 延 is “to stretch, extend,” also acting phonetically in 誕 to express “big.” With “big, stretched words,” you have bragging or exaggerations. Thus, 誕 originally meant “deception” or “false.”
That’s the meaning in our star word, as the breakdown indicates:
虚誕 (kyotan: exaggerated talk) false + false
That’s not the whole etymological story, though. The word 降誕 (kōtan: holy birth, royal birth, to descend (from heaven) + birth) originally meant “making a fuss about a holy (or royal) birth.” That makes sense, given the exaggerations inherent in 誕 back then. Consequently, “birth” became an extended meaning of 誕, which we can define in an assortment of ways:
誕 (TAN: to be born, nativity, false, to be arbitrary)
“To be born” is now the main meaning, as in 誕生日 and its root:
誕生 (tanjō: birth, creation, formation) to be born + to be born
Words for a Proper Birthday Celebration …
We saw 誕生 two weeks ago in this koala sign:
The 誕 kanji doesn’t just factor into words about early koala development. It also pops up in words that span a lifetime (koala, human, or otherwise):
The one-year celebration of a birth:
初誕生 (hatsutanjō: first birthday)
first + to be born + to be bornThe 100-year celebration of a birth:
生誕百年 (seitan hyakunen: 100th-birthday anniversary)
to be born + to be born + 100 + yearsDepending on what order you’re reading in, you may have just seen 生誕 (seitan: birth) on a side page.
Whoa! From the first birthday to the hundredth in a matter of seconds! Where did the time go?!
The 誕 kanji can even help us talk about life after death:
再誕 (saitan: resurrection (of a company or school, etc.))
again + to be bornThis is an uncommon word. People usually use 再生 (saisei: resurrection, rebirth, again + to live) to refer to the resurrection of a company, school, airline, and so on.
Speaking of death, it seems that today’s blog has come to an end. But there’s life after death in the form of a Verbal Logic Quiz! Enjoy!
Posted by Eve Kushner in Kanji Curiosity |
January 23rd, 2010 at 8:49 am
Eve-san,
Very nice work on “tanjoubi no tan.” When I saw the koala announcement, “fukuro kara deru,” it reminded me of a sign I once saw at a ski resort in Yamagata Prefecture. I believe the name of the little restaurant was “Boku-n-chi” specializing in “o-fukuro no aji.” Can you please explain when Japanese use the word “fukuro” to refer to one’s (human) mother? Arigatoxiexie. LW in OR
January 23rd, 2010 at 8:51 am
Ah, fukuro is coming up next week (including the incredibly surprising associations w/ mothers)! The blog will probably span a few weeks, so the mother part may not come till Part 2 or something. Thanks for the note!
January 24th, 2010 at 8:50 am
Eve mentions 再誕 and 再生, but here is another word for the same meaning which is as common as 再生. 再建 (saiken; to rebuild), which breaks down as “again + build” must be easy to remember due to its straightforward break down.
Unfortunately, this word is heard on a daily basis nowadays, General Motors, Japan Airlines, etc. As she already says, 再誕 is uncommon and not listed in many dictionaries.
January 24th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Thanks, Hiroshi-san. Speaking of uncommon words, a different native speaker tells me that 虚誕 (kyotan) is quite uncommon and that she and her husband had never heard of it.