勇む

Japanese

Kanji in this term
勇
いさ Grade: 4

Etymology

From Old Japanese. Initial いさ (isa) portion shares its origin with the old isa reading of 鯨 (“whale”). Ending む (mu) is likely the old auxiliary verb む, expressing intent, desire, or estimation.

Homophonic with archaic 営む (“to do business”), and archaic 諫む/諌む (“to admonish”), but semantic relationship is unclear.

Verb

勇(いさ)む • (isamu) intransitive godan (stem 勇(いさ)み (isami), past 勇(いさ)んだ (isanda))

1. to be in high spirits, enthusiastic; to be brave or courageous
2. (archaic) to whinny
   • This sense is usually expressed using the word 嘶く (inanaku). However, the ending naku portion is homophonic with 泣く (“to cry, to weep”), and as such this word was treated as somewhat taboo by soldiers, who thus used isamu instead.
3. (archaic) to blow a horn as a signal in a naval battle

勇(いさ)む • (isamu) transitive godan (stem 勇(いさ)み (isami), past 勇(いさ)んだ (isanda))

1. (archaic) to encourage, to cheer someone up

Conjugation

Conjugation of "勇む" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	勇ま	いさま	isama
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	勇み	いさみ	isami
Shūshikei ("terminal")	勇む	いさむ	isamu
Rentaikei ("attributive")	勇む	いさむ	isamu
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	勇め	いさめ	isame
Meireikei ("imperative")	勇め	いさめ	isame
Key constructions
Passive	勇まれる	いさまれる	isamareru
Causative	勇ませる 勇ます	いさませる いさます	isamaseru isamasu
Potential	勇める	いさめる	isameru
Volitional	勇もう	いさもう	isamō
Negative	勇まない	いさまない	isamanai
Negative continuative	勇まず	いさまず	isamazu
Formal	勇みます	いさみます	isamimasu
Perfective	勇んだ	いさんだ	isanda
Conjunctive	勇んで	いさんで	isande
Hypothetical conditional	勇めば	いさめば	isameba

Synonyms

• (encourage): 勇(いさ)める (isameru)
• (whinny): 嘶(いなな)く (inanaku)