Significance of 「温」 in 「温故知新」

Question

This question came to my mind while playing 漢字読めるカナ for Android to pass time.

温故知新 is a 4-character idiom from the 論語, Confucian Analects, meaning to learn from the past.

It is a Chinese phrase^* and its kun-reading is usually given as

故【ふる】きを温【？】て、新【あたらし】きを知【し】る。

To ??? the old, and learn/understand the new.

Dictionaries and gogen-allguide disagree how one should read the first character 温. The reading 故き温【たず】ねて "to revisit the old" seems to be a bit more common. The problem I've got this reading is that the character 温 does not mean たずねる or anything close -- I cannot find such a nuance in a kanji dictionary either. Kanji dictionaries such as the 漢字源, however, list the alternative interpretation that has been suggested, that is 故きを温【あたた】めて "to warm up the old".

(1) Did 温 ever signify something like たずねる? Was it ever read as 温【たず】ねて in other contexts?

(2) Can anybody shed some light on the intended meaning of 温 in 温故知新? Presumably, this would involve knowledge of Classical Chinese.

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^* The original Chinese phrase in the Analects is 子曰、温故而知新、可以為師矣. See the link for the kanbun reading.

Answer 1

In the dictionary 字通【じつう】 (1996), we find:

[3] よく温熟する、ならう、たずねる。

In addition, the dictionary 類聚名義抄【るいじゅみょうぎしょう】 (approx. 12^th century) lists^* the following meanings for 温:

アタゝム・タツヌ・ウルフ・ツゝム・シル・アタゝカナリ・ウツクシ・ヤハラカナリ

尋【たず】ねる (or rather, タツヌ) is the second listed.

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Moving on now to Chinese sources, in 漢典, it is written:

(2) 复习 [review]

温故而知新。——《礼记·中庸》

温《缁衣》一章。——清· 袁枚《祭妹文》

(3) 又如：温故知新；温故（复习学过的知识）；温旧稿（比喻操旧业；干老营生）；温课

Compare, for instance, (modern) Chinese 溫習 "to review, revise". Finally, in 康熙字典:

又燖也。《中庸》温故而知新。《註》温如燖温之温，謂故學之熟矣，復時習之謂之温。

This suggests that the use of 温 as "to review" is an extension of "to (re)heat".

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^*You can find a publicly available copy of this dictionary here. 温 can be found in book 6, page 11, to the left.