Questions tagged [etymology]
語源. The study of the origin of words and the historical development of their meanings. Sometimes used for kanji as well; we currently don't have a separate tag for character origins.
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Did Middle Japanese really have final -t?
Like final -m and final -n which did exist to common knowledge, did final -t exist?
Portuguese sources speak of Japanese possessing a final -t in the past, but I am unsure if it about it's existence.
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Why is 的 not Teku or Chaki?
In Japanese there are many Go-on/Kan-on pairs that one end with I and one ending with U, if u is the default filler vowel, then why don't all of them end with U?
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Is there a relationship between もっと and もっとも?
Dictionaries list もっと and もっとも as two separate words (and with different pitch patterns):
もっと (も＼っと): Adverb that means "(some) more; even more; longer; further"
もっとも (もっと＼も): Adverb that ...
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Words similar to アンニュイ
The word アンニュイ seems like an exception to me, since it is able to act as an (na-)adjective while originating from a noun (loanword from French). I don't think there is any answer as to how it emerged, ...
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Why is 面倒 Ateji and not just Onyomi?
According to the wiktionary page, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%9D%A2%E5%80%92#Japanese, 面倒 is ateji and not just regular onyomi, when they use the on readings.
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Inconsistency with Go-on 工, Ku not Kuu/Kou
Why is it that the Go-on reading of 工 isn't Kuu or Kou?
When a word with an -ng ending, it always results in a final u when behind a a o/u due to the ng ending producing a nasal u and then the nasal ...
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What is the etymology of the word Motto? [duplicate]
There is no clear etymology for this word.
If someone could clear my doubt, i would be thankful.
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What is the etymology of もっと
I can’t find a clear etymology for もっと (“more”). Where does the word come from?
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What does 動 mean in the grammatical term 動詞?
As a Sino-Japanese term, likely coined by Japanese grammarians, the etymology of 動詞 seems straightforward at first: 動 means "move" and 詞 means "word". The problem is what does &...
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etymology of 成立 and 成り立つ
成立 (せいりつ) and 成り立つ share the same kanji as well as at least one sense. Sense 1 of 成り立つ is defined here as:
ある物事ができ上がる。すっかりある状態になる。成立する。
成立 is also attested in Chinese (see here). I can't find ...
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Etymology of まで?
Is anything known about the etymology of particle まで? What is its derivation? Is it known to be composed of any other morphemes, or are any related words known?
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Etymology of 制度
What is the rough etymology of 制度 (system / organization)? Or how do 制 (system) and 度 (degrees / capacity) come together to form the meaning of system / organization? Specifically, how does 度 (...
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Did are/a/ano evolve from kare/ka/kano?
In answer another question of mine regarding Old Japanese pronouns, user Arfrever made an interesting claim:
Coincidentally, kare and kanozyo personal pronouns in Modern Japanese have also developed ...
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Etymology of 交番
What is the etymology of 交番 (police box / small neighborhood police station)? I don't understand how 交 (mingle / mixing) and 番 (number in a series / turn) combine to mean police box / small ...
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How does 化かす meaning to deceive; bewitch or delude work, when it's seemingly the す form of 化ける?
Is it similar to the modern transitive form/す form of verbs with ambiguous transitivity in their archaic form where す just acts as a transitivity agent for the stem of the word and therefore the base ...
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Mystery of 徐に: "slowly" or "suddenly"?
I came across the adverb 徐に{おもむろに} , which is supposed to mean "slowly, deliberately" as in "he slowly got up from the chair".
But I have learned that a mistaken usage of the word ...
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Is 遊生夢死 a real saying?
遊生夢死 is the title of a very popular song by the artist Eve. At first when looked it up in the dictionaries I have access to (Daijisen, Daijirin), it seems to be a modification of a classical Chinese ...
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Etymology of 郵便
What is the rough etymology of 郵便 (mail service / mail / postal matter)? Or how do 郵 (mail) and 便 (convenience) come together to form the meaning of mail service / mail / postal matter? Specifically, ...
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Etymology of 能力
What is the rough etymology of 能力 (ability, capacity)? Or how do 能 (ability / talent) and 力 (power / strength) come together to form the meaning of ability / capacity? Specifically, how does 力 (power /...
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Any etymological relation between なる and なり?
I'm wondering if there's any etymological relation between the modern verb なる (also 成る, 為る), meaning "to become, to be completed", and the classical auxiliary verb なり (also 也), a copula with ...
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Etymology of 事情
What is the rough etymology of 事情? Or how do 事 (matter) and 情 (feelings / emotions) come together to form the meaning of circumstances / conditions?
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Understanding 負けてはいない
I encountered the expression 負けてはいない. I wonder if it is the combination of 負けていない and contrastive は. How does 負けてはいない (meaning "still haven't lost") come to mean "fight equally"? ...
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What could be the reason why the kokuji 働 exists?
The etymology of the kokuji 働 seems straightforward enough, 動 plus the radical 亻. What's not straightforward is why the Japanese felt the need to create it. I could think of at least three hypotheses:
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What does this use of でいい mean?
Context: A Japanese character is watching a video featuring Americans and is in awe at the behavior of people from the what she refers to as the "Land of the Free". During this moment, she ...
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物差し (ruler) - why 差す?
差す appears to have a lost of uses, most of which seem to involve making something pass through a point in space (and then, for lack of a better word, 'shoot out' from there) or the motions related to ...
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Nuance of 相場が決まっている
The word 相場, market (price), has a quite common additional sense that can mean reputation/estimation/esteem (according to conventional wisdom), used most commonly in the phrase 相場が決まっている, "to be ...
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Why did 黄 not have an adjectival form in Old Japanese?
A lot of online articles have claimed that Japanese "originally" only had four words for colors: 白, 黒, 赤, 青. They also argue that, since only these four have both noun forms and 形容詞 forms (...
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On the meaning and etymology of 有難い
So in Modern Japanese 有難い or more commonly ありがたい means 'thankful', but it is created by combining the 連用形 of ある with がたい, resulting in something that is close in meaning to "difficult to exist/be&...
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Is エッチ "milder" than 変態 in Japanese?
While I don't doubt the expertise of Japanese-porn connosseurs about the difference between ecchi and hentai in English, I'm not fully convinced there is a comparable different between エッチ and 変態 in ...
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What is the etymology of ない (the 助動詞 or auxiliary verb), and how does it derive from the negative 助動詞 ぬ?
I've been searching for the etymology of ない for a while now, and can't seem to find a clear answer. To be clear, this is the 助動詞 (auxiliary verb) ない, not the adjective 無い (Classical Japanese 無し). ない ...
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On わたくし referring to the third person in Early Middle Japanese
In The Cambridge Handbook of Japanese Linguistics, on page 36 to be exact, the following is written:
The NJ speaker reference watakushi ('he'/'she' in EMJ) [...] came to be used from LMJ.
NJ refers ...
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What is 得な性格? How is it used in this sentence?
Context: The character's brother asked him to meet a person for him. The character is reluctant but in the end he comments his brother's 強引さ always makes him do stuff etc.
I can gather he's ...
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What is a "Ｐ学生"?
A story I'm reading has a character referring to a girl as a "Ｐ学生", and I've been completely unable to find a definition for what it is. The girl is an elementary school student so it can't ...
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In Masaoka Shiki's haiku 千年の煤もはらはず仏だち, is 仏だち intended, or a mistake?
The text of the haiku is 千年の / 煤もはらはず / 仏だち.
Is -dachi in 仏だち hotoke-dachi intended, with the same meaning as 達 -tachi, or is this an error in the transcription?
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etymology of 排球
球 is literally "ball", and Takoboto includes "line up" and "expel" as some literal meanings for 排, and I could buy either one of those as descriptions of the game "...
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遊星{ゆうせい} meaning planet?
In Yugioh 5D's, the protagonist's name is Yuusei (遊星). All Yugioh protagonists have Yuu (遊) in their name, because they're good at games (e.g. the first protag's name is 遊戯{ゆうぎ}, meaning games, and ...
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Etymology of ガン詰め
I am not sure what is the origin of the word ガン詰め. Google search tells me that it means 徹底的に追求すること but I cannot find it in any known dictionary (?).
My guess is that the ガン part means an eye (眼) and ...
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Does 傘 come from 笠 since they have the same reading?
I recently realized that 傘 was read かさ, just like 笠. Is that a coincidence or did the first evolve from the latter in some way?
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Are there any Japanese surnames referring to the beech tree?
I am interested to know whether any habitational surnames (or toponyms that could viably be used as surnames) in Japan are related to the Japanese beech tree (ぶな). I have found surname etymologies ...
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The history of ◯ being used to denote zero
What is the history behind ◯? Can someone shed some light on when it started getting used to represent zero in numbers and the like. For a kanji, it is quite peculiar as it looks like a kanjified 0. ...
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"Ka no taikoku shin" = China? [Rurouni Kenshin Live Action]
The Rurouni Kenshin Live Action movie (2012) is set in 1878 Tokyo Japan. In it, a high-ranking general (Yamagata) talks about how opium (アヘン) (which is spreading through japan) might destroy Japan as ...
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Etymology of のぞむ and/or のぞく?
What is the etymology of the verbs 望む(のぞむ) and 覗く(のぞく)?
For reference, here are the (top) Japanese dictionary definitions. There are multiple for each one, but I only copied the top one for each.
のぞ・く ...
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Etymology of 甘え
I'm making an assumption that because it's the same kanji and kunyomi, 甘え is the same historical base as 甘い 'sweet', and so the meaning, etymologically, is literally something like 'be sweet on ...
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Etymology of ダンボール
This question has been on my mind for quite a while. The fact that ダンボール (corrugated cardboard) is written in katakana infers that it's a 外来語. However, it can also be written as 段ボール, and I have no ...
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どうにも、どうにか、いかにも、どうか、どうもの中にパターンが潜在していますか？
いつも（どうにも、どうにか、いかにも、どうか、どうも）という種類の単語を聞いたり読んだりすると、パターンがいかにもあると感じます。
どう思われますか？
具体的に言えば私が話しているパターンは見かけ上共通の語源を持っていて1つの助詞を変えて1つ追加したり2つ追加したりすると意味が異なることを理解したいと思っています
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What's a prototypical example of モラハラ (moral harassment)?
I'm not exactly sure what モラハラ is. All I can tell is that it's strongly associated with workplace bullying. But I don't really understand how "moral harassment" might be a thing. Is it kind ...
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Is there a reason behind the structure of all the adverbs like しっかり、ぐっすり、はっきり?
I am not sure how to formulate my question but while learning Japanese vocabulary I could not help but notice that many adverbs seem to have a similar structure. For example, しっかり、ぐっすり、はっきり but there ...
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Do 果物/野菜 follow the scientific definition (e.g. an eggplant is a 果物), or the casual definition (e.g. an eggplant is a 野菜)?
In English, fruit and vegetable have actual scientific meanings, which make eggplant, tomato and zucchini fruits. However, most people just ignore the actual definition and like to just say those are ...
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What is the etymology of onani [duplicate]
In the Book of Genesis chapter 38, Judah had a son named Onan.
Onan's story of spilling his seed, leads to the term Onanism.
Onanism is an interpretation of Onan's story.
Regardless of whether there ...
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Origin of the use of ~代 in prices
The usage of 代{だい} to mean "replacement" or "era" both seem to have an equivalent in Chinese but the meaning of "payment" seems unique to Japanese. Is this just an ...
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