Is 基督{キリスト} really an 当{あ}て字{じ}?


I am learning the word for Christ, キリスト. According to the dictionary I make
use of, it can be written in kanji as 基督, but the entry indicates that it is
an ateji 当て字 spelling. I did some extra research and the word appears as ateji
in other sources too, for example in this [wikipedia
entry](https://ja.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E5%BD%93%E3%81%A6%E5%AD%97)
. However, I think that the meanings of both kanji are far from random and
instead they actually suit the meaning of the word Christ:

  * 基 fundamental, radical
  * 督 coach, command, supervise

From a believer's standpoint, Christ (or God) is the fundamental actor that
supervises our lives, so it kind of makes sense meaning-wise. Why is 基督 marked
as an ateji then?




The use of ateji does not always disregard the semantic content of the
characters.

It's true that many ateji use the phonetic content of individual characters to
represent words, ignoring the meaning of those characters. But sometimes the
characters are chosen so that the meaning is also relevant. This is known as
phono-semantic matching.
[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ateji#Phono-semantic_matching) gives
the well-known examples of 倶楽部 (くらぶ) and 合羽 (かっぱ), where both the semantic and
phonetic content are matched. I haven't done a detailed search of the
etymology of 基督, but if the semantic content of the characters is related to
the overall meaning of the word, this does not preclude it from being assigned
as ateji.




The use of ateji does not always disregard the semantic content of the
characters.

It's true that many ateji use the phonetic content of individual characters to
represent words, ignoring the meaning of those characters. But sometimes the
characters are chosen so that the meaning is also relevant. This is known as
phono-semantic matching.
[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ateji#Phono-semantic_matching) gives
the well-known examples of 倶楽部 (くらぶ) and 合羽 (かっぱ), where both the semantic and
phonetic content are matched. I haven't done a detailed search of the
etymology of 基督, but if the semantic content of the characters is related to
the overall meaning of the word, this does not preclude it from being assigned
as ateji.

