玆

玆 at its compositional origin is a doubling of 玄 (현 — black; dark; mysterious), and its original reading and meaning is therefore 현 (hyeon) meaning black — not 자. This is the position argued by Duan Yucai (단옥재) in his 《說文解字注》, where he insists the correct reading of 玆 (from 二玄) should be 현 (胡涓切), not 자, and that the reading 자 entered through confusion with the unrelated character 茲.

茲 (U+8332) is a separate character formed from the abbreviated lower portion of 絲 (실 사 — silk thread: 幺幺) topped with the grass radical 艹, meaning lush vegetation / dense plant growth. This 茲 was borrowed as a demonstrative pronoun meaning this / here, an entirely unrelated phonetic borrowing that had nothing to do with 玆.

Because the forms of 玆 (from 二玄) and 茲 (from 艹 + 絲省) are visually similar, the two characters were conflated across dictionaries over centuries. The Kangxi Dictionary (강희자전) follows the Shuowen Jiezi in assigning the reading 자 to both 玆 (under the 玄 radical section) and 茲 (under the 艸 radical section), documenting the conflation without fully resolving it. Duan Yucai criticizes this arrangement explicitly, arguing that 玆 should be read only as 현 and that the demonstrative pronoun function belongs properly to 茲 alone.

The practical result is that 玆, 茲, and their associated readings 자 / 현 have been in documented confusion since at least the Tang dynasty, and the Korean lexicographic tradition inherited this unresolved ambiguity.

玆 is a purely classical and archaic character. In modern Korean it appears in almost no everyday vocabulary, surviving only in formal classical quotation and historical document study.

자(玆) — herewith; hereby; at this point (classical demonstrative, used in formal proclamations)

념자재자 (念玆在玆) — to keep this in mind; to hold this always present — from The Book of Documents (書經·大禹謨), one of the most cited classical uses of 玆 as a demonstrative pronoun

Most famous modern Korean use:

기미독립선언서 (己未獨立宣言書, March 1st Declaration of Independence, 1919):

「오등(吾等)은 자(玆)에 아(我) 조선(朝鮮)의 독립국(獨立國)임과 조선인(朝鮮人)의 자주민(自主民)임을 선언(宣言)하노라」

"We hereby declare that Joseon is an independent nation and that the Korean people are a self-governing people."

The opening sentence of the Declaration of Independence — 자(玆)에 meaning hereby / at this moment — is the single most famous use of 玆 in modern Korean historical memory.

The scholarly controversy over 玆 and 茲 is unusually well documented and unusually consequential. At its most technical it is a question of whether two visually similar characters formed from different components should be treated as identical or kept distinct. At its most culturally significant it generated a dispute about the correct title of one of Korea's most celebrated works of natural history.

자산어보 vs. 현산어보:

《玆山魚譜》, compiled by Jeong Yak-jeon (정약전) during his exile on Heuksando (흑산도) in the early 19th century, is a pioneering survey of the fish and sea creatures of the Korean coast. The title uses 玆山 — where 玆山 is a literary name for 흑산도 (Black Mountain Island), 흑 (black) being the meaning of the original 玆 (from 二玄, read as 현). If 玆 is read as 자, the title is 자산어보; if it is read as 현 (its correct original reading according to Duan Yucai), the title is 현산어보.

Korean scholars remain divided on the question, and both readings appear in academic literature. The controversy is a direct consequence of the centuries-long conflation of 玆 and 茲 and the resulting ambiguity of the reading.

The Kangxi Dictionary acknowledges the problem explicitly: 茲 and 玆 share the same sound but differ in meaning.

From 玄: readings 子之切 and 瑚涓切, meanings black / this / surname.

From 艸: readings 子之切 and 牆之切, meanings lush vegetation / a mat / a place name.

The mutual contamination of dictionaries across the tradition is noted, and the Kangxi editors attempt a correction — but the ambiguity was already too deeply embedded to be resolved by lexicographic decree.

Related characters:

玄 — black; dark; mysterious (the doubled component forming 玆)

茲 — lush vegetation; this (the visually similar character with which 玆 was conflated; U+8332)

絲 — silk thread (the component whose abbreviated form 幺幺 underlies 茲)

此 — this (the common everyday demonstrative pronoun)

斯 — this; then (classical demonstrative, close synonym)

黑 — black (the meaning of the original 玆, now carried by this character)

Classical citations:

《書經·大禹謨》 (Book of Documents, Counsels of the Great Yu)

「念玆在玆，釋玆在玆，名言玆在玆，允出玆在玆，惟帝念功」

"Keep this in mind — let this be present always; release this, let this be present; name and speak of this, let this be present; sincerely act from this, let this be present — only the Emperor remembers merit."

The most celebrated classical use of 玆 as a demonstrative pronoun, repeated seven times in a single passage. The 《書經》 uses 茲 in the original; Tang stone editions substituted 玆; the conflation is documented here at its earliest classical stratum.

《左傳·哀公八年》 (Zuo Zhuan)

「何故使吾水玆」

"Why have you made our water black?"

The 釋文 (textual commentary) records: 玆, read as 玄 (현). This is the passage Duan Yucai cites as proof that the correct reading of 玆 is 현 not 자 — the transmitted ancient pronunciation preserved in the commentary tradition against the later lexicographic drift toward 자.

《說文解字注》 (Duan Yucai's Commentary on the Shuowen, 1815)

「玆從二玄。胡涓切。十二部。今本子之切。非也。」

"玆 is formed from two 玄. Read as 胡涓切 (현). This is the twelfth rhyme group. The current edition reads it as 子之切 (자). This is wrong."

Duan Yucai's explicit correction — the clearest scholarly statement of the argument that 玆 should be read 현, not 자, and that the demonstrative pronoun function belongs to 茲 alone.

기미독립선언서 (Declaration of Independence, March 1, 1919)

「오등(吾等)은 자(玆)에 아(我) 조선(朝鮮)의 독립국(獨立國)임과 조선인(朝鮮人)의 자주민(自主民)임을 선언(宣言)하노라」

"We hereby declare that Joseon is an independent nation and that the Korean people are a self-governing people."

The most famous single use of 玆 in modern Korean history — the opening word of the March First Declaration, chosen for its classical weight and formal demonstrative force. Whether the drafters were aware of the scholarly controversy over the character's correct reading is not recorded.

茲 (U+8332) — closely related but distinct character; frequently confused