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+--- Thread: Catalpa? (/thread-7461.html)
Catalpa? - pudding cat - 2011-03-11
So I've reached 'catalpa' and I looked it up on wikipedia to see what it looked like. However catalpa on English wikipedia and 梓 on the Japanese wikipedia appear to be two completely different trees... I'm not even sure that they're related species.
Obviously this is not really important for my kanji learning, I was just curious if anyone knows why the meaning is catalpa.
Catalpa: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalpa
梓: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%BA%E3%82%B5
Catalpa? - rigol - 2011-03-11
Wiki for the (real) Catalpa tree: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/キササゲ - it explains the use of that kanji as follows: "日本で「梓(し)」の字は一般にカバノキ科のアズサ(ヨグソミネバリ)を指すが、本来はキササゲのことである" - maybe Heisig choose this meaning over birch because of the origin of the kanji and because he already named another kanji "birch"?
Catalpa? - shaggadelyc - 2011-03-11
Maybe its better to learn the (or a?) reading straight from the start? There are quite a few strange trees in the final third of the book (camphor, cedar etc.), and I constantly mix them up. Would anybody of you advanced guys give them a distinct japanese reading?
Catalpa? - JimmySeal - 2011-03-12
あずさ is a fairly common reading for 梓, used in names and the like.