Re: Semantic mismappings

Nik Taylor scripsit:

> John Cowan wrote:
> > This is not strange.  I forget the details, but Sino-Japanese has a
> > morpheme that means "soup" by itself and "hot water" (the Chinese meaning)
> > in compounds.
>
> Actually, that's not so.  "Soup" is _shiru_ (which can also mean "juice"
> or "broth" or "gravy") or the loan-word _suupu_.  Hot water is _yu_
> (Japanese reading) or _tou_ (Chinese reading).  Neither of which can
> mean "soup", although _yu_ can also have the meaning of "hot bath" or
> "hot spring", an obvious derivative.
I got the story backwards.  I was talking about _yu_/_tou_, U+6E6F, which now
means "soup" in Chinese, though it retains the meaning "hot water" in
Japanese and Korean.  However, it is used to write _tangmen_, soup noodles,
because that is a recent borrowing from Chinese.

--
John Cowan  jcowan@reutershealth.com  www.reutershealth.com  www.ccil.org/~cowan
I am he that buries his friends alive and drowns them and draws them
alive again from the water. I came from the end of a bag, but no bag
went over me.  I am the friend of bears and the guest of eagles. I am
Ringwinner and Luckwearer; and I am Barrel-rider.  --Bilbo to Smaug