Jul 10, 2017 · 1 min read
and re: balance, FYI a little skin-in-the-game semiographic philology. The first of the sinitic characters 無罪 (muzai) used to express innocence in Chinese and Japanese as ‘free-from-guilt,’ (related perhaps to Turkish ‘masumiyet’ immaculate) means ‘not’ — originally a figure with outstretched arms holding two animal hides: 革 + 大 + 革, ie in balance not disproportionate, commensurate, just, fair — and the second (zai) meaning vice is an ideogrammic compound of 罒 (“net”) + 非 “breached, ripped, broken” — ie not fit-for-purpose, very much disproportionate and out of balance, parlously void of the intended catch or haul, thus incommensurate comperclity/ maximum incomparlicity. Enjoy!
