Etymology 1
From 一 (pi1to2, “one, 1”) + 人 (-ri, counter for persons).
Noun
一人 (pi1to2ri) (kana ひとり)
- one person
- , text here
波流佐禮婆麻豆佐久耶登能烏梅能波奈比等利美都都夜波流比久良佐武- paru sareba madu saku yado1 no2 ume2 no2 pana pi1to2ri mi1tutu ya parupi1 kurasamu
- When spring comes and the first plums bloom in your garden, could you spend the long spring days looking on them by yourself?[1]
- an unmarried person, single
711–712, Kojiki, poem 65:夜多能比登母登須宜波比登理袁理登母意富岐彌斯與斯登岐許佐婆比登理袁理登母- Yata no2 pi1to2mo2to2 suge2 pa pi1to2ri wori to2 mo2 opoki1mi1 si yo2si to2 ki1ko2saba pi1to2ri wori to2 mo2
- Though like the single stalk of Yata sedge, I remain alone, if Your Majesty agrees, It will not matter that I remain alone.[2]
Descendants
- Japanese: 一人, 独り (hitori)
See also
- 樫の實の (kasi no2 mi2 no2), pillow word that can allude to pi1to2ri
Etymology 2
Two possible derivations:
- From 一 (pi1-, short form of pi1to2, “one, 1”) + 人 (-tari, counter for persons). However, pi1- was never attested as a short form of pi1to2 until the Middle Japanese stage.
- Alternatively, a shift from 一 (pi1to2, “one, 1”) + 人 (-tari, counter for persons):
- ⟨pi1to2 tari⟩ → */pʲit̚tari/ → ⟨pi1dari⟩
Given the shift of -ta to -da due to rendaku (連濁), the second derivation seems likely.
Noun
一人 (pi1dari) (kana ひだり)
- (rare, possibly regional, Eastern Old Japanese) one person
720, Nihon Shoki, poem 11:愛瀰詩烏毗儾利毛毛那比苔比苔破易陪廼毛多牟伽毗毛勢儒- Emi1si wo pi1dari momo na pi1to2 pi1to2 pa ipe2do2 mo tamukapi1 mo sezu
- A single Emishi is worth a hundred men, so they say, yet they did not resist.
References
Paula Doe, Yakamochi Ōtomo (1982) A Warbler's Song in the Dusk: The Life and Work of Ōtomo Yakamochi (718-785), illustrated edition, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 31
Jin'ichi Konishi (2017) Nicholas Teele, transl., Earl Roy Miner, editor, A History of Japanese Literature, Volume 1: The Archaic and Ancient Ages (Princeton Legacy Library), Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 145