いつ

Japanese

Etymology 1

Alternative spelling
何時

From Old Japanese,^[1] from Proto-Japonic *Etu. Appears in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.^[2]

The presence of other Old Japanese indefinites beginning with い (i) suggests a possible shared root of い (i, possibly “what” or “which”), as in 如何 (ikaga, “how”), 何処 (izuko, “where”), 幾ら (ikura, “how many, how much”).

Likely cognate with eastern Old Japanese word idu (modern idzu or izu, “where”), still used in modern Japanese as part of the word いずれ (izure, “which”). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) いつ [íꜜtsù] (Atamadaka – [1])^[3][4][5]
• IPA^(key): [it͡sɨ]

Pronoun

いつ • (itsu) 

1. when

   いつ日(に)本(ほん)へ来(き)ましたか。

   Itsu nihon e kimashita ka.

   When did you come to Japan?

Usage notes

• This word is usually written in hiragana.
• 何(い)時(つ) (itsu) is more commonly used to mean when in terms of dates or days, while 何(なん)時(じ) (nanji) is more commonly used to mean when in terms of time of day.

Derived terms

• いつか (itsuka): sometime, someday
• いつかそのうち (itsuka sono uchi)
• いつぞや (itsu zo ya)
• いつでも (itsu de mo): at any time
• いつの日(ひ)にか (itsu no hi ni ka)
• いつの間(ま)に (itsu no ma ni)
• いつの間(ま)にか (itsu no ma ni ka)
• いつから (itsu kara)
• いつまで (itsu made)
• いつも (itsu mo): always, all the time
• いつまでも (itsu made mo): forever, eternally

Etymology 2

Alternative spellings
厳 稜威

Alternative forms

• (honorific) みいつ (miitsu)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [it͡sɨ]

Noun

いつ • (itsu) ^{←いつ (itu)?}

1. (literary) majesty, authority
   • 1900, “鉄道唱歌・東海道編 (Tetsudō shōka Tōkaidō-hen)”:

     鞘(さや)より拔(ぬ)けておのづから　草(くさ)なぎはらひし御劍(みつるぎ)の　御威(みいつ)は千代(ちよ)に燃(も)ゆる火(ひ)の　燒津(やいづ)の原(はら)はこゝなれや

     saya yori nukete onozukara kusanagi haraishi mitsurugi no miitsu hachiyo ni moyuru hi no yaizunohara wa koko nare ya

     (please add an English translation of this example)

   • 1941, “海の進軍”, 海老沼正男 (lyrics):

     御(み)稜(い)威(つ)輝(かがや)く大(おほ)空(ぞら)に

     miitsu kagayaku ōzora ni

     (please add an English translation of this example)

Etymology 3

For pronunciation and definitions of いつ – see the following entries.

【一】1 [noun] one [noun] the same [affix] one, 1 [affix] first, foremost [affix] group [affix] entirely, wholly [affix] other [affix] merely, only [proper noun] a female given name

【逸】S [noun] (literary) ease, comfort [affix] escape, flee, break loose [affix] leisure, ease [affix] lost, not known in the world [affix] excellent, outstanding

【溢】J [affix] overflow [affix] excessive

【佚】H [noun] (literary) ease [affix] ease; comfort [affix] lost; unknown

(This term, いつ (itsu), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as いつ, see Category:Japanese kanji read as いつ.)

References

1. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
2. c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 15, poem 3705:

   , text here
3. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
4. NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
5. Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN