Why do the verbs 為る【する】 and 為す【なす】 ("to do") use the same kanji as 為【ため】
("because of", "for the sake of", etc.)? I'm not seeing any obvious connection
between the meanings of する・なす and ため that would explain why they use the same
kanji, and they don't appear to be etymologically related either.

(Yes, I'm aware that nobody writes する or なす with those kanji, but that's how
it's listed in dictionaries, so I figure it's worth asking anyway.)
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kanji classical-japanese
Why do 為る【する】 and 為す【なす】 use the same kanji as 為【ため】?
For that, you might have to ask on a Chinese etymology site -- both meanings,
"to do" and "because of", can apparently be ascribed to the underlying Chinese
term 為: with the reading _wéi_ for "to do", and the reading _wèi_ for "because
of". See the entries on
[MDBG](http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=1&wdqb=%E7%82%BA)
and [Mandarin Tools](http://www.mandarintools.com/cgi-
bin/wordlook.pl?word=%E7%82%BA&searchtype=chinese&where=whole&audio=on).

In most cases of Chinese characters used in Japanese, the various kun'yomi for
the kanji weren't just picked willy nilly. In fact, the "kun" part of
"kun'yomi" indicates the _meaning_ of the term in Japanese (i.e., the native
Japanese word(s) that matched the meaning of the kanji), while the "on" part
of "on'yomi" referred to the _sound_ of the term as read in Chinese (i.e., the
sound of the foreign word that the kanji belonged to). If a single kanji had
multiple meanings, or a broad meaning that might have matched multiple native
Japanese words, you wind up with cases like 為 that have multiple kun'yomi. If
a single kanji was imported into Japanese from multiple different Chinese
dialects, or at multiple different points in Chinese history, you wind up with
cases like 生 that have multiple on'yomi ( _sei_ , _shō_ ).
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Conventions: I will use 漢字 to represent Chinese words, and かな or [振り仮名]{ふりがな}
to represent Japanese words.

## なす/なる and “to make”

為 is related to (and might have been the same as) 偽, “to forge”. Both なす and
なる happens to translate to “to make” in Chinese.

When you make “an object” you produce it. Sometimes the active and passive
distinction in Chinese is not so clear, e.g.

> 漢文： **氷、水為之** 、而寒於水  
>  [書下]{かきくだし}し：氷{こおり}は、水{みず} 之{これ}を為して{なして}、而も{しかも}水{みず}より寒し{さむし}  
>  Also: 氷{こおり}は、水{みず} 之{これ}と為りて{なりて}、而も{しかも}水{みず}より寒し{さむし}  
>  Translation: “water makes ice” or “water turns into ice”

The difference is not clear.

## なす/なる and “to do”

When you make “an action” you do it. When you try to do something, you 為す{なす}.
When something is done, it 成る{なる}. 為 is the process while 成 is the result.
It's similar to the difference between “look” and “see”. This distinction does
not exist in Japanese. なす usually implies なる.

> 為すべきは人にあり、成るべきは天にあり  
>  為せば成る  
>  Translation: where there is a will, there is a way

## “To do” and “purpose/reason”

In Chinese, there is no question word meaning “why”. “Why” is expressed as
“what to do” (何為 or 為何). Coincidentally, Japanese sometimes says “what to do”
to express “why”, too, e.g. ～なんすれぞ(archaic) なにしに and どうして.

> 何為ぞ{なんすれぞ}、去らざるや  
>  なにしに、悲しきに見送り[奉]{まつ}らむ
>
> どうして、去らないのか  
>  why don't you leave here?  
>  何しに来たんだ  
>  What did you come here for?

## ため and “purpose/reason”

I think ため means “benefit”.

～ために、～する means to do something so that it helps something else. The grammar is
straightforward, too. When you say “～を～にする” the result is “～が～になる”.

## Conclusion

ため, する and 為 share the same meaning “for”. する, なす, なる and 為 share the same
meaning “to do”/“to make”

All the four words (ため, する, なす and なる) end up with the same kanji
representation 為.

## A little more

It's not uncommon to see words meaning “be made” develop into copulas. 為 is
also a copula in Chinese. In this case, it's read as たり, which is a
contraction of とあり.

> 漢文：為人臣者  
>  書下し：人臣{じんしん}たる者{もの}  
>  Translation: someone who is a servant
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