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I'm researching the kanji 本 for a blog post. I understand its original meaning
is "root", and the other two senses, "book" and "this," are semantic shifts.
I've found a couple of sources (without citations; one on Japanese
StackExchange) for its sense of "book."

I'm having more trouble finding its sense of "this" as in 本学, 本件, 本状, 本品 and
so on. Does anyone know how it came to be used in this way?

お手伝いありがとうございます～
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2017-09-27T22:16:27.450
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2017-09-27T23:43:21.163
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question
meaning kanji etymology
How did 本 come to mean "this?"
The English rendering of _this_ may be somewhat misleading. :)

The root (ha!) meaning of 本 includes a sense of _main_ , and it is from this
sense that the use correlating to English _this_ derives: as in, "the **main**
item under discussion (out of several possible items)".

Shogakukan's 国語大辞典 lists the following sense under the **II〔接頭〕** heading:

>
> 名詞【めいし】に付【つ】けて、今【いま】、現【げん】に問題【もんだい】にしているもの。当面【とうめん】のものである意【い】を表【あらわ】す語【ご】。当【とう】の。この。「本【ほん】講堂【こうどう】」「本【ほん】事件【じけん】」など。  
>  Attached to a noun, the item now actually at issue. Term expressing a sense
> that this is the immediate item. The relevant (thing), this (thing). Such
> as, "this auditorium", "this issue".
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