Is 別れる the intransitive form of 分ける?


I'm studying kanji right know and I found this verb with the kanji 別 and its:
わかれる. It is an intransitive verb and it means to be divided. Then I found out
that to divide is 分ける but it has a different kanji. I did a little research
and I found in a book that the intransitive form of 分ける is 分かれる which has the
same pronunciation as 別れる but it uses a different kanji too and it has another
meaning.

>   * 分ける = To divide (Transitive)
>
>   * 別れる = To be divided (Intransitive)
>
>   * 分かれる = To branch (Intransitive)
>
>

Can someone explain this to me? For me it makes more sense that 別れる is the
intransitive form of 分ける.




> Is 「別{わか}れる」 the intransitive form of 「分{わ}ける」?

No, it is not. Instead, 「分かれる」 is the intransitive form of 「分ける」.

「別れる」 means " ** _to part from another person_** " or to put it simply, it
means " ** _to say good-bye (to someone)_** ".

「分ける」 means " ** _to divide (into smaller units)_** ".

For that rather huge difference in meaning, 「別れる」 and 「分ける」 could not
logically form a transitive-intransitive verb pair.

「分かれる」, however, means " ** _to branch off_** ", " ** _to split into_** ",
etc. and that makes it good enough to be the intransitive form of 「分ける」.

As a side note, 「分かれる」 and 「別れる」 originally were the same word when Japanese
was a spoken language. Since we started to write Japanese, two different kanji
were assigned to fit the two different usages of the verb "wakareru", which
would end up giving Japanese-learners a hard time 2,000 years later.




> Is 「別{わか}れる」 the intransitive form of 「分{わ}ける」?

No, it is not. Instead, 「分かれる」 is the intransitive form of 「分ける」.

「別れる」 means " ** _to part from another person_** " or to put it simply, it
means " ** _to say good-bye (to someone)_** ".

「分ける」 means " ** _to divide (into smaller units)_** ".

For that rather huge difference in meaning, 「別れる」 and 「分ける」 could not
logically form a transitive-intransitive verb pair.

「分かれる」, however, means " ** _to branch off_** ", " ** _to split into_** ",
etc. and that makes it good enough to be the intransitive form of 「分ける」.

As a side note, 「分かれる」 and 「別れる」 originally were the same word when Japanese
was a spoken language. Since we started to write Japanese, two different kanji
were assigned to fit the two different usages of the verb "wakareru", which
would end up giving Japanese-learners a hard time 2,000 years later.

