Catalpa?

Index » RtK Volume 1

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Reply #1 - 2011 March 11, 10:00 am
pudding cat Member
From: UK Registered: 2010-12-09 Posts: 497

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% … A%E3%82%B5

Reply #2 - 2011 March 11, 10:37 am
rigol Member
From: Germany Registered: 2010-01-11 Posts: 26

Wiki for the (real) Catalpa tree: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/キ&# … 9;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"?

Last edited by rigol (2011 March 11, 10:38 am)

Reply #3 - 2011 March 11, 6:29 pm
shaggadelyc Member
Registered: 2010-11-19 Posts: 25

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?

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Reply #4 - 2011 March 12, 10:54 am
JimmySeal Member
From: Kyoto Registered: 2006-03-28 Posts: 2279

あずさ is a fairly common reading for 梓, used in names and the like.

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