Amanda Takes Off...

Long, long ago, I learned that 화 (火) means "fire."

I am currently reading The Little Prince. This book is much too hard for me in Korean, so I'm reading a few chapters in English first, then a few in Korean. It's the perfect thing to read while standing on the subway, because the chapters are so short.

The word for "volcano" is 화산. I read that and thought...화? 화가 나다? 화를 내다? Anger? To get angry? To express one's anger? 화산...angry mountain?

This sent me off on a little dictionary exploration. When I got my electronic dictionary, I thought I'd never use the Hanja dictionary. I was so wrong.

I had completely forgotten about 화요일 meaning "fire day." Turns out that "wrath, anger, passion" and "fire" use the same Hanja, 火!

Hence, 화산 (火山) means "fire mountain" but uses the same Hanja that "angry mountain" would. Were a mountain to get angry, mind you.

Fire mountain. That's just plain beautiful.

I then found 화 (火) in my Handbook of Korean Vocabulary.

Of particular note:
Mars (화성, 火星, lit. "fire star")
vexation, irritation (성화, 成火, lit. "make anger")
let go of anger (화풀다, a blend of Sino and pure Korean, 火-solve)
gunpowder (화약, 火藥, lit. "fire/anger medicine")

Fire/anger...medicine? Wow.

And in the course of a few minutes—not for the first time—I've fallen in love with this language again.