言葉
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
From Old Japanese 言葉 (ko2to2ba), attestable since at least the Man'yōshū of 759 CE.[1] In turn, reconstructed as deriving from Proto-Japonic *kətənpa.
Compound of 言 (koto, “word”) + 端 (ha, “edge; beginning, end”).[1][2] The ha changes to ba as an instance of rendaku (連濁).
The term 言 (koto) was formerly the main term for word in Japanese. This term is also cognate with 事 (koto, “thing, fact, event”). The ha may have been added to differentiate from 事 (koto).
Pronunciation
Noun
- [from 759] a word, a term
- 1996 February 16, Yozaburo Kanari with Sato, Fumiya, “ファイル12 蝋人形城殺人事件⑭ [File 12: The Wax Model Castle Murder Case #14]”, in 金田一少年の事件簿 [Young Kindaichi Case Files], volume 16 (fiction), Tokyo: Kodansha, →ISBN:
- 2003 October 17, CLAMP, “Chapitre.8 神の宿る国 [Chapitre 8: Homeland of the Gods]”, in ツバサ RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE [Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle], volume 2 (fiction), Tokyo: Kodansha, →ISBN, page 78:
- 2016 July 22, “歓喜する信者 [Exultant Cultist]”, in 異界月 [Eldritch Moon], Wizards of the Coast:
- [from 934] language, speech
Usage notes
- The alternative forms are used almost exclusively in compounds.
Synonyms
Derived terms
- 合い言 (aikotoba), 合言葉 (aikotoba): a password or passphrase (spoken); a motto or slogan
- 東言葉 (azuma kotoba): any dialect of eastern Japan
- 遊ばせ言葉 (asobase kotoba): a polite mode of speaking, generally by women, that consists of suffixing verbs with the term 遊ばせ (asobase, the stem of the causative form asobaseru of verb 遊ぶ asobu, “to play; to hang out”)
- 遊び言葉 (asobi kotoba): a hesitation word
- 天地の詞 (ametsuchi no kotoba): an instructional pangram used in the early Heian period, predating the Iroha
- 言葉遣い (kotobazukai): wording, word use
See also
- 言の葉 (kotonoha)
References
- “言葉・詞・辞”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
- Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- 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
- 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.
- Shinmura, Izuru, editor (1998), 広辞苑 [Kōjien] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN
- Kitahara, Yasuo, editor (2002), 明鏡国語辞典 [Meikyō Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Taishūkan Shoten, →ISBN
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