Etymology 1
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From Old Japanese. Originally a compound of 此 (ke, “this”) + 朝 (asa, “morning”).
The initial /ke/ is an alternative form of the initial /ko/ (此, “this”) seen in words such as ここ (koko, “this place → here”) or これ (kore, “this [nominal] → this”), and the final /sa/ is a contraction from */ke.asa/ to /kesa/ with the medial -a- falling out, as Old Japanese did not permit vowel clusters.
It is the same element found in 今日 (kepu→kyō, “today”).
The use of the kanji 今 (“now”) instead of 此 (“this”) is an example of jukujikun (熟字訓).
Etymology 2
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/konteu/ → /kontjoː/
From Middle Chinese compound 今朝 (MC kim trjew, literally “now morning”). The /eu/ → /joː/ sound shift is a regular phonological change.
See also
More information 時 (“Time”), ~ ...
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