Wednesday, January 24, 2018

王: おお my, what a piece of work that king is

たくさん漢字derive from 王, おお, meaning "king."  I am going to skip over descendants of 金 (metal, money) because that's a whole lot more kanji.  I'll also put 主 and its descendants in another post.

王, king:                   The one who links heaven (top line), earth (bottom line),
                                   and mankind (middle line).  Yes, the Chinese did have a
                                   high opinion of kings.  Or pretended to.
旺, flourishing:         The Sun King makes everything seem to flourish.
斑, blemish/spot:     The kings aren't getting along -- it's part of the culture to find
                                   fault (blemishes) on each other.
班, squad/corps:      The corps puts a skinny sword between the 2 kings, but
                                   they're still ready to fight.
琴, harp:                   Now let's play the harp for the kings.
狂, insane:               The king is now gone mad as a wild beast.
皇, emperor:            The emperor, white with anger, sits on the king to
                                   make him behave.

"Straighten up or you're dead meat."

望, wish:                  Many seem to wish for the throne; if the king's not careful,
                                  he will be dead meat.
徴, indications:        At the crossroads near the mountains, the king seeks teaching
                                  to learn the signs.  And here is what he learned:

全, all:                     "I've got heaven, human society, and earth all under one roof
                                 -- I've got it all!"  Be grateful for what you have, etc.
栓, stopper, plug:    "And a  piece of wood to hold all the stuff in."  A letdown,
                                  when you think that...
金, money/metal:    The king learned to focus, under his roof, on all that money.
玉, jewel:                 ...and the jewel he's so attached to he keeps it at his side.
宝, treasure:             All those jewels under his roof are his treasure or valuables.
国, country:              In fact, everything in the borders of the country, he considers his treasure.
呈, exhibit/present:  You got an audience!  Speak before the king to exhibit/present
                                   your wisdom.  But he asks...
程, how much:         "How much rice harvest are you exhibiting to me, the king?" Argh!
潤, profit:                  What will it profit him?  The king's behind his gates, and the
                                   rains come and wash his wealth -- rice harvest, jewels, money,
                                   whatever -- away.

王旺琴斑班皇望狂望全栓金玉宝国呈程潤

No comments:

Post a Comment