19336
This question came to my mind while playing `漢字読めるカナ` for Android to pass
time.

`温故知新` is a [4-character idiom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yojijukugo) from
the [論語, Confucian Analects](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analects), meaning
`to learn from the past`.

It is a Chinese phrase* and its kun-reading is usually given as

> 故【ふる】きを温【？】て、新【あたらし】きを知【し】る。
>
> To ??? the old, and learn/understand the new.

Dictionaries and [gogen-allguide](http://gogen-
allguide.com/o/onkochishin.html) disagree how one should read the first
character `温`. The reading `故き温【たず】ねて` "to revisit the old" seems to be a bit
more common. The problem I've got this reading is that the character `温` does
not mean `たずねる` or anything close -- I cannot find such a nuance in a kanji
dictionary either. Kanji dictionaries such as the 漢字源, however, list the
alternative interpretation that has been suggested, that is `故きを温【あたた】めて` "to
warm up the old".

(1) Did `温` ever signify something like `たずねる`? Was it ever read as `温【たず】ねて`
in other contexts?

(2) Can anybody shed some light on the intended meaning of `温` in `温故知新`?
Presumably, this would involve knowledge of Classical Chinese.

* * *

* The original Chinese phrase in the Analects is [`子曰、温故而知新、可以為師矣`](http://manapedia.jp/text/index?text_id=1898). See the link for the kanbun reading.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-01T09:07:23.853
19334
2014-11-01T21:26:19.747
2014-11-01T09:32:17.693
3275
3275
question
kanji etymology chinese yoji-jukugo
Significance of 「温」 in 「温故知新」
In the dictionary 字通【じつう】 (1996), we find:

> [3] よく温熟する、ならう、たずねる。

In addition, the dictionary 類聚名義抄【るいじゅみょうぎしょう】 (approx. 12th century) lists*
the following meanings for 温:

> アタゝム・タツヌ・ウルフ・ツゝム・シル・アタゝカナリ・ウツクシ・ヤハラカナリ

尋【たず】ねる (or rather, タツヌ) is the second listed.

* * *

Moving on now to Chinese sources, in
[漢典](http://www.zdic.net/z/1d/xs/6E29.htm), it is written:

> (2) 复习 [review]
>
> 温故而知新。——《礼记·中庸》
>
> 温《缁衣》一章。——清· 袁枚《祭妹文》
>
> (3) 又如：温故知新；温故（复习学过的知识）；温旧稿（比喻操旧业；干老营生）；温课

Compare, for instance, (modern) Chinese 溫習 "to review, revise". Finally, in
[康熙字典](http://www.kangxizidian.com/kangxi/0634.gif):

> 又燖也。《中庸》温故而知新。《註》温如燖温之温，謂故學之熟矣，復時習之謂之温。

This suggests that the use of 温 as "to review" is an extension of "to
(re)heat".

* * *

*You can find a publicly available copy of this dictionary [here](http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2586895?tocOpened=1). 温 can be found in book 6, page 11, to the left.

![類聚名義抄, the entry for 温](https://i.stack.imgur.com/eHS7q.jpg)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-01T10:13:34.437
19336
2014-11-01T21:26:19.747
2014-11-01T21:26:19.747
3275
578
19334
answer