lauburu

Pop into any souvenir shop in the Basque Country, stroll through the old town of Bilbao and you’ll see it. It’s everywhere. So on my way from Bilbao I bought a box of lauburu-shaped candies to make, um, a bigger lauburu, why not.

According to Wikipedia, lauburu or Basque cross “is a symbol of the Basque Country and the unity of the Basque people”, in spite of its almost certainly non-Basque origin. Just like swastika, lauburu could be either left-handed or right-handed.

The word lauburu is probably derived from Latin labarum (as in Cantabrian labarum), folk-etymologically reinterpreted by Basques as “four heads” (lau “four” + buru “head”). It is highly unlikely that it was the other way round, as one Fidel Fita suggested, viz. that labarum was adapted by Romans from Basque.

More photos related to lauburu, Basque country and candy @ Shutterstock.

竹 | zhú

In Mandarin Chinese, 竹 (Pinyin: zhú) means “bamboo”. According to Wiktionary, 竹 shows

two bamboo stalks, with leaves. Earlier forms resembled 个 + 个, current form resembles rather ケ + ケ.

Lawrence J. Howell explains in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters that 竹 is

A depiction of a pair of rigid, tubular bamboo stalks rising from the earth.

There are many toponyms that are compounds of 竹, for example

• 大 + 竹 = 大竹 (Dàzhú): Dazhu
• 竹 + 北 = 竹北 (Zhúběi): Zhubei
• 竹 + 南 = 竹南 (Zhúnán): Zhunan (Chunan)
• 竹 + 山 = 竹山 (Zhúshān): Zhushan
• 黄 + 竹山 = 黄竹山 (Huángzhúshān): Huangzhushan

and so on.

More photos related to bamboo @ Shutterstock.

松 | sōng

In Mandarin Chinese, 松 (Pinyin: sōng) is a noun meaning “pine”. 松 is a phono-semantic compound of semantic 木 (“wood”) and phonetic 公 (gōng).

Lawrence J. Howell explains in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters that 松 is a

公 open + 木 tree/wood → pine tree (species with “open” fronds).

Some compounds of 松 include

• 松 + 木 = 松木 (sōngmù): pine wood
• 松 + 子 = 松子 (sōngzǐ): pine nut
• 松 + 花 = 松花 (sōnghuā): pine pollen
• 松 + 果 = 松果 (sōngguǒ): pine cone
• 松 + 针 = 松针 (sōngzhēn): pine needle
• 松 + 鼠 = 松鼠 (sōngshǔ): squirrel

A combination of 松 with 山 (mountain), 松山, is a common placename in China (Sōngshān), Japan (Matsuyama) and Korea (Songsan). In Japanese, there is a beautiful word 松風 (松 + 風), matsukaze, which means “wind blowing through pine trees” or “the sound of such winds”. Matsukaze is a famous Noh play by Kan’ami Kiyotsugu (1333—1384).

Incidentally, the symbol above were created using Canarian pine 松针.

More photos related to pines @ Shutterstock.

合 | hé

In Mandarin Chinese, 合 (Pinyin: hé 🔊) is used as an adjective for “whole”, “entire”; an adverb “together”; and a verb meaning “to add up”, “to be equal to”, “to close”, “to combine”, “to join”, “to unite”, etc.

According to Wiktionary, 合 is an ideogrammic compound of 亼 “to gather from three sides” and 口 “mouth”:

Two mouths speaking together.

Uncle Hanzi says that “top is inverted mouth, bottom mouth, meaning to agree” and adds another explanation: “pot and lid join”. In her Chinese Calligraphy Sourcebook, Yat-Ming Cathy Ho writes:

The top inward-sloping strokes of hé and the horizontal stroke beneath them mean “heaven”, “people” and “earth”.

Lawrence J. Howell explains in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:

As per 口 (cavity → open container) + an abbreviated form of 今 (contain) → press/fit together a lid on a container, containing objects inside → fit; join; put together; meet. Extended meanings include suit; match; agree/coincide with; correspond to; be correct; add (to); combine; set/adjust (a device); adapt oneself to; and check (with/against).

Some compounds of 合 include

• 合 + 金 = 合金 (héjīn): alloy
• 合 + 十 = 合十 (héshí): “ten together”, i.e. to put the palms together (as a Buddhist greeting)
• 六 + 合 = 六合 (liùhé): the six directions (east, west, north, south, up and down); the whole country
• 百 + 合 = 百合 (bǎihé): lily (“for the numerous segmented and overlapping scales on the bulb of the lily”)
• 好 + 合 = 好合 (hǎohé): happy union (marriage)
• 回 + 合 = 回合 (huíhé): round (of sports, negotiations etc.)

In Japanese, 百合 (lily) is pronounced yuri. Yuri is also a common female given name.

More photos related to lilies, hanzi and calligraphy @ Shutterstock.

杏 | xìng

In Mandarin Chinese, 杏 (Pinyin: xìng 🔊) means “apricot”. 杏 “is one of the 1000 most commonly used words” in the Collins Chinese Dictionary, although it does not explain why it’s so extremely common.

Lawrence J. Howell explains in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:

口 mouth + 木 tree/wood → apricot (← tree fruit savored in the mouth). Compare 梅, a closely related fruit thought to be beneficial for pregnant women on account of its voluminous production.

Some interesting compounds of 杏 include

• 杏 + 仁 “kernel” = 杏仁 (xìngrén): almond
• 杏 + 月 = 杏月 (Xìngyuè): the second month of the Chinese lunar calendar
• 杏 + 林 = 杏林 (xìnglín): literally, “apricot forest”; figuratively, “fine doctor” or “medical field”. According to Wiktionary, this meaning comes

  from the story of the famed physician Dong Feng [3^rd c. CE], who refused to accept payments from his patients, and instead asked patients successfully cured of ailments to plant apricot trees. A forest of apricot trees came to surround his home as a testament to his skill.

• 银 / 銀 “silver”, “money” + 杏 = 银杏 / 銀杏 (yínxìng): ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)

More photos related to apricots, almonds, ginkgo, hanzi and calligraphy @ Shutterstock.