つばき

Japanese

Etymology 1

⟨tubaki₁⟩ → */tubakʲi/ → /t͡subaki/

From Old Japanese. Appears in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.^[1]

Ultimate derivation unknown. Various theories exist, including:

• Possibly from Old Japanese element つば (tsuba, “glossy, shiny”) + 木 (ki, “tree”).

  Although 艶 (tsuya, “gloss, shine”) is verifiable, つば (tsuba, “glossy, shiny”) does not appear in references.^[2][3]

  Moreover, the final ki portion in the Old Japanese phonetic spelling of ⟨tubaki₁⟩ does not match the ⟨ki₂⟩ phonetic spelling for 木 (ki, “tree”).

• Possibly a contraction from 艶葉木 (tsuya pa ki, literally “glossy leaf tree”), with rendaku changing the pa to ba.

  The shift from tsuya to just tsu would have had to occur even earlier than the Man'yōshū. There do not appear to be any other terms exhibiting this same shift.

  This theory also suffers from the same phonetic mismatch for the ki portion.

• Possibly borrowed from Korean 동백(冬柏) (dongbaek).

This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “where are these theories from? who proposed the "nonexistent" element つば "shiny"? is 艶葉木 attested, or from someone's imaginative speculation?”

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) つばき [tsúꜜbàkì] (Atamadaka – [1])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [t͡sɨba̠kʲi]

Noun

つばき or ツバキ • (tsubaki) 

1. 椿, 山茶, 海石榴: the Japanese camellia, Camellia japonica

Proper noun

つばき or ツバキ • (Tsubaki) 

1. a female given name
2. 椿, 山茶: a surname
3. 椿, 山茶: a female given name
4. 椿: a place name

Etymology 2

Readings of various names.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) つばき [tsúꜜbàkì] (Atamadaka – [1])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [t͡sɨba̠kʲi]

Proper noun

つばき or ツバキ • (Tsubaki) 

1. 津波木, 津葉木, 鍔木, 椿木: a surname
2. 乙姫, 月羽希, 椿希, 椿樹, 椿生: a female given name
3. 椿姫, 椿有, 翼希, 翼樹, 翼姫: a female given name
4. 翼生: a male given name

Etymology 3

Derived as the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of now-obsolete verb 唾吐く (tsubaku, “to spit, to expectorate”), itself from 唾 (tsu, “saliva”) + 吐く (haku, “to expel from the mouth: to spit, to vomit, to exhale”).^[2][3]

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) つばき [tsùbákíꜜ] (Odaka – [3])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [t͡sɨba̠kʲi]

Noun

つばき or ツバキ • (tsubaki) 

1. 唾: saliva, spit

Further reading

• Etymology at Nihonjiten (in Japanese)
• Etymology at Gogen-Allguide (in Japanese)

References

1. c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 13, poem 3222:

   , text here
2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
3. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN