Monday, February 25, 2019

kanji - Why is 着 used for both "to wear" [着]{き}る and "to arrive" [着]{つ}く?


The usual situation with multiple kun readings for a kanji is that they are closely related in meaning (like [上]{あ}がる, [上]{のぼ}る). But with [着]{き}る and [着]{つ}く I fail to see any semantic connection. Why is the same character used? Did one of the meanings formerly use another character that became the same by simplification?




Answer



Etymology aside, I see a semantic connection between the two verbs, in that 着る and 着く both have a meaning of 'attachment', with 着く having at least some overlap with 付く. 着物 is something attached to your body. It is a bit unintuitive but you can make the leap of arriving at a place as entering into it and becoming spatially attached to it as in 駅に着く.


I didn't find an 'official' source, but I found one QA site answer that supposes a similar thing:


1)身につける=着る


2)行きつく=到着


Also see the link for lots of different opinions.


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