Loek van Kooten, MAOne word. Ten meanings. Japanese politeness at its most absurd.
召す (mesu) is the honorific replacement for almost everything a noble person does. Summon someone? 召す. Wear clothes? 召す. Eat, drink, bathe, buy, ride, catch a cold, grow old? All 召す. Even ritual suicide: 腹を召す (hara wo mesu). The most polite way to describe the most violent act. The kanji 召 shows a mouth (口) calling out while a curved hand (刀) beckons. In ancient China, 招 was beckoning with your hand, 召 was summoning with your voice. Both demand attention, but differently.
The Duke of Shao (召公), one of the first nobles of the Western Zhou dynasty, carried this character in his name. He was a high priest who summoned gods in state rituals. When a character starts its life calling down deities, no wonder it ended up as the go-to word for addressing royalty. 陛下は側近を召して、次の戦の方針についてお尋ねになった。 Heika wa sokkin wo meshite, tsugi no ikusa no hōshin ni tsuite otazune ni natta. "His Majesty summoned his close retainers and asked about the plan for the next battle. "
What's the politest Japanese word you know? Drop it below. All ten meanings of mesu (召す) are on learn.japanology.nl. Quiz yourself and see how many you remember tomorrow. #Japanese #LearnJapanese #Kanji #JLPT #WordOfTheDay #Japanology #Keigo #Honorific #JapaneseLanguage #JapaneseCulture #StudyJapanese