Anfang as chinese / Cordwainer Smith [Was "Old French"]

Jeff wrote:

> I don't think I'd want to imitate ammonium ... could it be something as
> prosaic as records room?
Maybe, I don't know the first thing (ok, the second) about Cordwainer
Smith, or the context this occurs in.

Here's a bit more detail on those two lexical entries. An X means a chinese
char I can't produce (well I can, but I broke something about the system's
configuration and don't feel like fixing it now), an a ~ means the
character for the headword


an4: (noun) 1. case; law case: X~ clear up a criminal case. 2.
record; file: X~XX be on record (or file). 3. a plan submitted for
consideration; proposal: X~ proposal; motion. XXX~ a draft resolution.

Also there's an entry under this char "an4juan4": "records, files,
archives"

fang2: (noun) 1. house: X~ bungalow. X~ a building of two or more storeys.
2. room: X~ study. X~ guest room. X~ ward.


>lists (polysyllabic) words, under their first character. There's one
>"anfang" listed, meaning "lay, place", which is the
> second "an" (where, how)
  ??????
> plus the final "fang"
Yep. In fact, many of the polysyllabic words under this headword have
in common the notion of "a place", though there's a handfull of other
ones with meanings from "ampoule" (a sound-borrowing, "an1bu4") to "good
health"

I tend to think of chinese multisyllable words as having the the
intersection of the meanings of all their components. Plus a bit.

stephen