User:Chuterix/Proto-Japonic

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Proto-Japonic[edit]

See Wiktionary:About Proto-Japonic.

Old Japanese[edit]

Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of Japanese. Written both phonetically and logographically; many Old Japanese sources are from poems, but various glosses are scattered through Japanese history records. Important sources are:

An example of phonetic poem:

  • 711–712, Kojiki, poem 1:
    夜久毛多都 伊豆毛夜弊賀岐 都麻碁微爾 夜弊賀岐都久流 曾能夜弊賀岐袁
    ya kumo1 tatu Idumo1 yape1gaki1 tuma gomi2 ni yape1gaki1 tukuru so2no2 yape1gaki1 wo
    [Where] eight clouds rise, Idumo's eight layer fence; for my spouse to dwell in, [I] make [this] eight layer fence; oh, this eight layer fence!

Another one, mixed phonetically and logographically:

  • c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 7, poem 1167:
    朝入為等 礒爾吾見之 莫告藻乎 誰嶋之 白水郎可将苅
    asari SU to2 ISO1 ni WA GA MI1 si nano2riSO2 wo IDURE NO2 SIMA NO2 AMA ka KARIKE1MU
    When I gone hunting, I had saw the rocks; which island to the gulfweed, [I] should've cut [that] diver...

In Kojiki vowel distinction 1 & 2 exist for po and mo, but lost in all other Old Japanese texts.

Po (po2) vs pwo (po1) manyogana for poems.

According to Bentley (2015):

富 (MC pjuwH) - po2

本 (MC pwonX) - po1

菩 (MC bu|bojX|bjuwX|bok) - po1

But for Old Japanese 欲し (po2si, “wanted, desired”), this is erroneously spelled as 本斯 (po1si). According to Vovin (2010), a section of Shoki preserve A/B distinction of po. According to Vovin (2011) Shoki had more phonetic accuracy (see shiri etymology). Meanwhile analysis of Kojiki shows that manyogana syllables are constant.

For Old Japanese 外 (poka, “outter part”), this is only attested in Manyoshu, where A/B distinction is lost. 2 phonetic spellings out of 5 exist. We could separate poka into po-ka ("other place") to resolve Arisaka's law. Hypothetical *po(1)ka could get raised to *puka, but it's more problem that this is unattested in EOJ, and that this can be separatable into 2 morphemes. We see Northern Ryukyuan Kunigami ふか (fuka), Northern Amami-Oshima ほか (hoxa), Okinawan ふか (fuka), Yoron ふか (fuka), Southern Ryukyuan Miyako ぷか (puka), Yaeyama ふか (fuka), and Yonaguni ふが (fuga); definitely Proto-Japonic with Proto-Ryukyuan, being PR *poka, and either PJ *pəka or *poka.

Internal Etymologies[edit]

  • たり (-tari, person counter suffix 3+): Likely by some analogy with 二人 (putari > futari, “two people”).
  • 美し (utukusi, “beautiful”): From うつ (utu > utsu, “hollow, inside, empty, etc.”) + 奇し (kusi, “mysterious”). Compare English wonderful. Compare also 麗し (urupasi).
  • 麗し (urupasi, “beautiful”): Either from 潤う (urupu, “get soaked”), or from 心 (uru, “inner feeling”, not used in isolation) + 愛し (pasi, “lovely; dear”). However the compound derivation would produce Modern Japanese *uruhashii instead of real descendant 麗しい (uruwashii). Compare 美し (utukusi).
  • 空 (so1ra, “sky”) < PJ *sora: Likely referred to an empty space, by many means. If so, from Pre-Proto-Japonic *saura, analyzable as a compound さ (sa-, nominalizing prefix) + 裏 (ura, “inlet”). PJ diphthong *au results in OJ o1. See also Proto-Ryukyuan *sora (“tip of a pole”).
  • 玉 (tama, “ball”), 魂 (tama, “spirit”) < PJ *tama: Clearly cognates of each other (KDJ). Possibly from some fossilized 未然形 (mizenkei, “incomplete form”) of at least a cognate 回む (tamu, “to spin”), which usually follows 上二段活用 (kami nidan katsuyō, “upper bigrade conjugation”). Analyses do not relate to Modern Japanese 頭 (atama, “head”); see that entry for details.
  • 帰る (kape1ru, “to return”): PJ *ia corresponds to OJ e1; many verb pairs have *-aru/-asu or *-əru/-əsu. So this is reconstructable as PJ *kapiaru. Could this be related to 貝 (kapi1, “shellfish”), from the way some sea creatures return to their shells for hiding?

Plans[edit]

See User:Chuterix/To Do#Proto-Japonic.

Links[edit]

References[edit]

Contains some resources and some references.

Templates[edit]

See also[edit]

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