Why does the 文語 version of the Bible have so many nonstandard readings?


For example in Genesis 1:

> 元始{はじめ}に神{かみ} 天地{てんち}を創造{つくり}たまへり

Why are the kanji 元始 and 創造 given the interesting readings? Moreover, they
seem to be given the readings of the less specific words 始め and 作り. Why not do
this:

> 始めに神 天地を作りたまへり

I understand the motivation of giving a technical kanji compound to denote a
special concept, but usually when that happens an ad-hoc 和製漢語 or existing 音読み
compound reading is given. So why not

> 元始{げんし}に神 天地を 創造{そうぞう}したまへり

Is this practice of using kanji compounds imported from China but instead
giving the reading of the closest Japanese word more common in Classical
Japanese?




This is one of the neat things about Japanese, and actually can shed some
light on [音]{おん}[読]{よ}み・[訓]{くん}[読]{よ}み.

One can think about the whole Japanese writing system as just using the 漢字
that have similar meaning for the Japanese word, and "reading" it as Chinese
or Japanese.

It started out by being just literal Chinese ([漢文]{かんぶん}). Then, instead of
reading it as Chinese, it was read as Japanese (i.e., 漢文[訓読]{くんどく} with
[片]{かた}[仮名]{かな} markup). However, after a while, the verbs started being moved
to the end (matching Japanese grammar), and then, there was a shift to using
the 漢字 for their "sound" instead of actual meaning (i.e., [和文]{わぶん}). Having
to write so many strokes just for sound was cumbersome (i.e.,
[萬葉]{まんよう}[仮名]{がな}); so, [平]{ひら}[仮名]{がな} was invented. It was difficult to
understand text written only in 仮名 without the 漢字 to convey meaning; so, after
a while, both 漢字 and 仮名 were mixed together (i.e.,
[和]{わ}[漢]{かん}[混淆]{こんこう}[文]{ぶん} and [仮名]{かな}[交]{ま}じり[文]{ぶん}).

That is a grossly over-simplified history of the Japanese writing system.

So, 漢字 and Japanese sounds have always been loosely coupled, which has allowed
for authors to pick-and-match 漢字 and reading.

An example of this is the word つくる—there are different 漢字 used to convey
different meanings/nuances.

  * 作る
  * 做る
  * 創る
  * 造る

The author(s) of your Bible decided to use 元始 for the meaning of "はじめ", and 創造
as the meaning of "つくる".




This is one of the neat things about Japanese, and actually can shed some
light on [音]{おん}[読]{よ}み・[訓]{くん}[読]{よ}み.

One can think about the whole Japanese writing system as just using the 漢字
that have similar meaning for the Japanese word, and "reading" it as Chinese
or Japanese.

It started out by being just literal Chinese ([漢文]{かんぶん}). Then, instead of
reading it as Chinese, it was read as Japanese (i.e., 漢文[訓読]{くんどく} with
[片]{かた}[仮名]{かな} markup). However, after a while, the verbs started being moved
to the end (matching Japanese grammar), and then, there was a shift to using
the 漢字 for their "sound" instead of actual meaning (i.e., [和文]{わぶん}). Having
to write so many strokes just for sound was cumbersome (i.e.,
[萬葉]{まんよう}[仮名]{がな}); so, [平]{ひら}[仮名]{がな} was invented. It was difficult to
understand text written only in 仮名 without the 漢字 to convey meaning; so, after
a while, both 漢字 and 仮名 were mixed together (i.e.,
[和]{わ}[漢]{かん}[混淆]{こんこう}[文]{ぶん} and [仮名]{かな}[交]{ま}じり[文]{ぶん}).

That is a grossly over-simplified history of the Japanese writing system.

So, 漢字 and Japanese sounds have always been loosely coupled, which has allowed
for authors to pick-and-match 漢字 and reading.

An example of this is the word つくる—there are different 漢字 used to convey
different meanings/nuances.

  * 作る
  * 做る
  * 創る
  * 造る

The author(s) of your Bible decided to use 元始 for the meaning of "はじめ", and 創造
as the meaning of "つくる".

