What does「英」really mean?


I know that the kanji 英 now really has the exclusive meaning of "English",
such as in 英語, but I'm wondering what the original meaning was. It's used in
words like 英雄, which obviously don't have anything to do with being English.
Is it just phonetic when used in words like that, or did it actually have an
older meaning?




Henshall writes on p.130 of _A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters_ :

> 艹 is _plant_ 9. 央 is _center_ 429 q.v., here acting phonetically to express
> _bloom_ and possibly lending an idea of _blocked off at the head_ from its
> assumed original meaning of person yoked at the neck. 426 originally meant a
> _flower that blossomed but lacked seed_ , such a flower being _exceptionally
> beautiful_. It can still mean beautiful flower in Chinese. Exceptionally
> beautiful came to mean _superior_ , with extended meanings such as
> _talented_ or _brave_. **It is also used for the first syllable of _England_
> , largely under the influence of Chinese in which [it] is pronounced YING
> and is a closer approximation to ENG.**

It's not true that 英 "now really has the exclusive meaning of English", but
it's acquired that meaning as well. It's still used in its usual senses of
"superior, talented, brave" in compounds like 英雄, 英明, or 英知.

In reference to England, it seems that 英 is an abbreviation for the ateji 英吉利.

The dictionary 精選版 日本国語大辞典 says:

> （「英」は「イギリス」のあて字「⇒英吉利」の略）

And the character dictionary 新漢語林 says:

> 国名。英吉利（イギリス）の略。

[Wikipedia](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A4%E3%82%AE%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B9)
backs this up:

> 「イギリス」の語源については、ポルトガル語の Inglez に由来すると言われる[3]。江戸時代には「エゲレス」とも呼ばれていた（前掲ポルトガル語
> Inglez、またはオランダ語 Engelsch が訛ったもの[4]）。
> **当て字である「英吉利」という表記は、もともと先行する中国語に由来する[5]。**

So I think that, in reference to England, it was used for its sound in Chinese
rather than for its meaning, and that's why we find two unrelated sets of
meaning ("English" and "superior").

I think the literal meaning of "flower" is uncommon in Japanese, although
you'll find it used to write certain flower names such as 蒲公英(たんぽぽ).

