たたずむ

Japanese

Alternative spellings
佇む 彳む (uncommon)

Etymology

From Old Japanese. First cited in the Man'yōshū poetry compilation of 759 CE,^[1] with the ideographic spelling of 立住.

Appears to be a compound of 立た (tata-, “standing”, irrealis or incomplete form) +‎ 住む (sumu, “to settle in a place”). The sumu changes to zumu as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

The initial tata- is unusual. In regular compound verbs, the first verb takes the continuative or "masu"-stem form, which for 立つ (tatsu) would be 立ち (tachi). We see this in compound verbs 立ち止まる (tachidomaru, “to stop and stand in a place”, literally “standing + stop”) or 立ち竦む (tachisukumu, “to stand paralyzed with fear, to be riveted to the spot with fear”, literally “standing + cower”). The tata- verb stem is instead the irrealis or incomplete form. The reason for this variance is not clear.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) たたずむ [tàtázúꜜmù] (Nakadaka – [3])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [ta̠ta̠zɨmɯ̟]

Verb

たたずむ • (tatazumu) intransitive godan (stem たたずみ (tatazumi), past たたずんだ (tatazunda))

1. [from 759] to remain in a place going back and forth, to loiter, to hang around
2. [from 974] to stand still, to linger in a place

   絶(ぜつ)望(ぼう)の淵(ふち)に佇(たたず)む

   zetsubō no fuchi ni tatazumu

   to wallow in a pit of despair

   (literally, “to stand still in an abyss of despair”)

3. [from 1687] to settle down in a place, to put down roots in a place

Conjugation

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	たたずま	tatazuma
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	たたずみ	tatazumi
Shūshikei ("terminal")	たたずむ	tatazumu
Rentaikei ("attributive")	たたずむ	tatazumu
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	たたずめ	tatazume
Meireikei ("imperative")	たたずめ	tatazume
Key constructions
Passive	たたずまれる	tatazumareru
Causative	たたずませる たたずます	tatazumaseru tatazumasu
Potential	たたずめる	tatazumeru
Volitional	たたずもう	tatazumō
Negative	たたずまない	tatazumanai
Negative continuative	たたずまず	tatazumazu
Formal	たたずみます	tatazumimasu
Perfective	たたずんだ	tatazunda
Conjunctive	たたずんで	tatazunde
Hypothetical conditional	たたずめば	tatazumeba

Conjugation of "たたずむ" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

References

1. c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 16, poem 3791:
2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN