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夏の夜の[悪夢]{ゆめ}

I don't understand why 悪夢 is read as ゆめ not あくむ.

Eddie Kal
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maxwill
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    ...because it's a title and authors are granted an [artistic license](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artistic_license) to do what they want. – macraf Sep 01 '16 at 15:07
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    I've seen [something like] this in Japanese comics. – Williem F. Sep 01 '16 at 15:26
  • It"s 当て字, This is a related link. http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/36955/%e6%b1%ba%e7%9d%80-keri-or-kecchaku/36956#36956 – Yuuichi Tam Sep 01 '16 at 17:16
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    @YuuichiTam properly, 当て字 is specifically the phonetic use of kanji, like 「寿司」 or「兎に角」 (広辞苑：「漢字のもつ本来の意味にかかわらず、音や訓を借りてあてはめる表記。」) That is, real ateji is when you discard the meaning and keep the sound. In this kind of creative rubi you do the contrary: discard the sound, but keep the meaning (and combine it with the meaning+sound of the rubi). Though currently the word "ateji" is also being used for other kinds of kanji techniques, including 熟字訓, 義訓 etc., I still think it's worth distinguishing each case. – melissa_boiko Sep 01 '16 at 17:51
  • Related: http://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/198/9831 / http://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/27458/9831 – Chocolate Sep 02 '16 at 03:26

3 Answers3

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That's a technique Japanese authors use every so often: playing with furigana (rubi) glosses. You can put a different word in the gloss and in the kanji, and in this way insert two words simultaneously at the same position. The implication is something like: the title is pronounced yume "dream", but when saying "dream" they mean a nightmare.

See discussion in the comments here; and, for a deeper discussion, see Ariga, The Playful Gloss: Rubi in Japanese Literature.

melissa_boiko
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悪夢 should be read as あくむ, and it means a nightmare. "夢" ipse reads ゆめ, and it means a dream. 夢 (dream / hope) and 悪夢 (nightmare) are different words.

"ゆめ" added to 悪夢 as a ふりがな (vocal notation) is 当て字, an arbitrary coinage of the author. It has no currency. You'd better not to follow / emulate it.

virmaior
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Yoichi Oishi
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http://togetter.com/li/834249 「宝貝人間」と書いて何と読む？『当て字・当て読み 漢字表現辞典』のカオスっぷりが話題

当て字 is an older term.

Perhaps, the newer term 当て読み is more likely to refer to the playful or newly-invented Ateji.

http://dictionary.sanseido-publ.co.jp/dicts/ja/ateji_ateyomi/ 運命（さだめ）・時代（とき）・秋桜（コスモス）・本気（マジ）・豆富・夜露死苦など、現実に流通していながら辞書には載りにくい表記を多数採録。

Conceptually related to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmanteau words.

かばん語（かばんご）あるいは混成語（こんせいご、英: portmanteau）とは、複数の語のそれぞれの一部を組み合わせて作られた語である。語の一部ではなく全部を組み合わせたものは合成語である。その語源からポートマントーとも。

HizHa
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