岩乗な?

[Hektor6766]

While reading Akutagawa's Mother, I came across this passage:

その向うには三階建の赤煉瓦にかすかな苔の生えた、逆光線の家が聳えている。薄暗いこちらの廊下にいると、出窓はこの家を背景にした、大きい一枚の画のように見える。岩乗な槲の窓枠が、ちょうど額縁を嵌めたように見える。

Is 岩乗な an error? Should this read 頑丈, or is the original an idiomatic way of saying rock-sturdy? We're talking about an oaken window sash that is like a great big picture frame, so it cannot actually be made of stone, if I'm reading it correctly .

[Yudan Taiteki]

I don't think it's an error, just a strange kanji usage. The word is still がんじょう. (The aozora bunko text has 巌乗な)

[ss]

I check dictionary and come to understand that this 頑丈 can mean strong, sturdy, massive, bulky and heavy. Not only applied to hard objects, it can also be used to describe a person (physical appearance), e.g. 頑丈な体の若者 means "a young person with strong and healthy body."

My dictionary says that 頑丈 was originally used to describe about a strong horse. The old word was 岩乗 and 岩畳.

明鏡国語辞典：
もとは馬が強健であることをいった語。
古くは「岩乗」「岩畳」などとも当てた。

[Hektor6766]

I forgot to mention, my source is the aozora bunko as well. I'm guessing the 乗 here means "power" or "set" (put, place) so the reading might be "rock-powerful" or "rock-set".

Nelson's gives 岩乗 as solid, firm, stout, as in "excellent horse"...Aha! Like riding a rock-solid horse, a "rock-ride"! Fascinating. That goes into my jwpce.

Thanks for your help!

[Yudan Taiteki]

Don't be misled by the kanji, the word is the same がんじょう as 頑丈, just written in a different way. There's no way to tell why Akutagawa chose those kanji 80 years ago.

[jimbreen]

Don't be misled by the kanji, the word is the same がんじょう as 頑丈, just written in a different way. There's no way to tell why Akutagawa chose those kanji 80 years ago.

I have added 岩乗 as an alternative kanji form in the JMdict/EDICT entry for 頑丈. It should be online tomorrow.

Jim

[Hektor6766]

Don't be misled by the kanji, the word is the same がんじょう as 頑丈, just written in a different way. There's no way to tell why Akutagawa chose those kanji 80 years ago.

I have added 岩乗 as an alternative kanji form in the JMdict/EDICT entry for 頑丈. It should be online tomorrow.

Jim

Wow!

[spin13]

I'm guessing the 乗 here means "power"

乗 means "power" in the mathematical sense. It has nothing to do with strength. Ex. 10^4 is １０の４乗.

[ss]

Eric wrote:
It has nothing to do with strength.

Nah, not quite. I'm not 100% sure how this 乗 is used in Japanese, though.

Now that I think of it, in Chinese, it has to be associated with whatever you're riding, e.g.
乘搭飛機 cheng da fei ji - by flight
乘搭地鐵 cheng da di tie - take MRT
乘风破浪 chéng fēng pò làng - ride the wind and waves (meaning: have great ambition and strength)

Chinese novel 『三国志演義』(さんごくしえんぎ), there's a 名馬 which 関羽 was riding, a 四字熟語 「一日千里」 was used to describe how an excellent horse could help his master to reach a place in a day's time. 馬に乗って, you need to be tough in order to ride the excellence horse. And also, 岩乗, you need so much power and strength to climb a rocky mountain. Since the word was original talking about the excellence horse, it kind of made sense to me.

In Hektor's passage, I think it's just emphasizing how solid and strong the oaken window frame was.

[Yudan Taiteki]

Hmm, I may need to take back what I said -- the Koujien actually has separate entries for these words.

岩乗（がんじょう）
①馬の特にすぐれて強健なもの。
②人や物が堅固で強いこと。

頑丈（がんじょう）
堅固で丈夫なこと。「－な体」「やぐらをーに組み立てる」

The words are clearly related but I don't know whether they really can be considered the "same word" now...

[Hektor6766]

I now see the mathematical application. Thanks!

I hope to begin serious study of Chinese sometime fairly soon. It may be the wrong order, but that's how it worked out. Still, I'm hoping for that correlation & reinforcement of the of the On-yomi, at least.