More fun with Japanese kanji
(but it may as well be cream cheese)


(Sorry Tybalt, I know this is waay off topic for a fiction mailing list.
I won't do this again. Much. Usually.)

The thing is, you *can* mix on and kun readings (to use the technical
terms). The Japanese do so all the time. In fact, some Japanese words
have a pronunciation which does not match the official readings for
their kanji. Confused yet? You will be.

森　【もり】 mori - forest
.            on - shin
.           kun - mori
.       chinese - sen
霊　【れい】  rei - soul, spirit, departed soul, ghost
.            on - rei, ryou
.           kun - tama (my dictionary doesnt have any words with this
reading)
.       chinese - ling

now, mori happens to be the kun reading, and rei is an on reading. For a
single word, either reading can be used, depending on some long
forgotten etymological rule.

I had thought on readings are generally used for words involving 2+
kanji. But 'toukyou' uses 'on' readings for both kanji, 'oosaka' uses
'kun' readings for both kanji. That rule is generally correct though.


The following *might* be good ways to say 'forest spirit' in Japanese:
shinrei
shinryou
mori no rei

If you are going for a Chinese name, you could try just using the
(Mandarin) Chinese readings, in which case 'senling' would be 'forest
spirit'(?). Chinese has remarkably simple grammar compared to Japanese,
so no need to worry about putting that 'no' in there.

conclusion: kanji is a bitch.

a few rules I found in various places

a word is usually either all kun or all on reading.
compound words are almost always on reading
single kanji are usually kun reading
kun readings are usually used for the stems of adjectives and verbs
all of these rules (usually) have exceptions

ps, Im not an expert, you local sensei may be a better guide in this.

---
Rhialto
kanji tte ichiban warui yo n da