The origin of some Japanese words is quite transparent. However, every language has quite a large number of words in which the relationship of form and meaning is unclear to speakers, because historical word changes have obscured the original form and meaning of the word. Today I want to talk about some of them!
Interesting etymology of 6 Japanese words
4) The well-known expression 一生懸命 /ishshyokenmei/ "with all one's strength" also has its own etymological history. It used to be written as 一所懸命 and was used in the sense of 一所懸領に命を懸ける/hitotsu-no shōryō:-ni inochi-o kakeru/ “to lay down one's life to protect one's possessions”. Such an expression characterized the dedication of samurai to the death to protect their possessions. Later, the word —所 /ishshyo/ “place” gradually lost its relevance, and it was replaced by the similar 一生 /ishshyo:/ “whole life”.
5) The word 赤子 /akaji/ “deficit” acquired its modern meaning due to the fact that earlier in accounting books, the amount of the shortage was written in red. It is not known for certain when exactly the word 赤子 /akaji/ began to be used in the sense of deficiency, but it became commonly used in this sense not so long ago - at the beginning of the 20th century.
6)Etymological analysis of the word 夫 /otto/ “man” shows that it comes from 男人 /ohito/ man, where the syllable /hi/ has undergone reduction. Thanks to reference to the literary monuments of the Heian (794-1185) and Muromachi (1336-1573) periods, it was proved that the form /otto/ familiar to modern speakers arose in the Muromachi period, while in the Heian era there was also a form /outo/.
Which etymology was the most interesting? Share in the comments!
