Understanding "鯖を読む"


鯖を読む would be naively translated as "Reading a mackerel". Weblio
[describes](http://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E9%AF%96%E3%82%92%E8%AA%AD%E3%82%80)
it as metaphorically meaning to misrepresent a number, such as their age.

[jisho.org](http://jisho.org/word/%E8%AA%AD%E3%82%80) says that as well as
meaning "to read", it used to mean "to count":

> to count
>
> See also さばを読む, now mostly used in idioms

Should I put this down to verbs not having a one-to-one correspondence in
meanings between Japanese and English?




The primary meaning of the verb 読む in ancient Japanese was _to count_.

[よむ is primarily defined as
数える](http://kobun.weblio.jp/content/%E3%82%88%E3%82%80) in 学研全訳古語辞典:

> ①順に数える。数を数える。  
>  「月よめばいまだ冬なり」  
>  [訳] 月日を数えると、まだ冬である。

And according to
[国語教育わたしの主張](https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=KKv_OQOsIvkC&lpg=PA104&ots=uLHVIFlHmJ&dq=%E8%AA%AD%E3%82%80%20%E6%95%B0%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B%E3%80%80%E5%8F%A4%E8%AA%9E&hl=ja&pg=PA104#v=onepage&q=%E8%AA%AD%E3%82%80%20%E6%95%B0%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B%E3%80%80%E5%8F%A4%E8%AA%9E&f=false):

> 日本最古の歴史物語である古事記（紀元七一二）や風土記では、読むは「数える」という意味であった。

Then it began to mean _to say out loud, to chant_ , because that's what people
do when counting things. Then it began to mean _to create (a haiku/waka)_
because a haiku was chanted or "sung". The modern primary meaning of 読む, _to
read (silently and understand what's written)_ , is relatively new one.

Today, the meaning of _to count_ is only found in a very few idioms such as
鯖を読む. As a native speaker, I of course know the metaphoric meaning of 鯖を読む,
but I didn't know what 読む stands for in this idiom. Mackerels (鯖) are fish
which are caught in bulk and spoil very quickly, and counting the number of
mackerels was not what old people did seriously. That's why 鯖を読む means
"presenting a wrong number".




The primary meaning of the verb 読む in ancient Japanese was _to count_.

[よむ is primarily defined as
数える](http://kobun.weblio.jp/content/%E3%82%88%E3%82%80) in 学研全訳古語辞典:

> ①順に数える。数を数える。  
>  「月よめばいまだ冬なり」  
>  [訳] 月日を数えると、まだ冬である。

And according to
[国語教育わたしの主張](https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=KKv_OQOsIvkC&lpg=PA104&ots=uLHVIFlHmJ&dq=%E8%AA%AD%E3%82%80%20%E6%95%B0%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B%E3%80%80%E5%8F%A4%E8%AA%9E&hl=ja&pg=PA104#v=onepage&q=%E8%AA%AD%E3%82%80%20%E6%95%B0%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B%E3%80%80%E5%8F%A4%E8%AA%9E&f=false):

> 日本最古の歴史物語である古事記（紀元七一二）や風土記では、読むは「数える」という意味であった。

Then it began to mean _to say out loud, to chant_ , because that's what people
do when counting things. Then it began to mean _to create (a haiku/waka)_
because a haiku was chanted or "sung". The modern primary meaning of 読む, _to
read (silently and understand what's written)_ , is relatively new one.

Today, the meaning of _to count_ is only found in a very few idioms such as
鯖を読む. As a native speaker, I of course know the metaphoric meaning of 鯖を読む,
but I didn't know what 読む stands for in this idiom. Mackerels (鯖) are fish
which are caught in bulk and spoil very quickly, and counting the number of
mackerels was not what old people did seriously. That's why 鯖を読む means
"presenting a wrong number".

