4

beginner Japanese language self-learner here. I hope my question isn't a bad question.

As title suggested, I would like to know about the difference between the two verbs which I understood have the same dictionary meaning, "to dedicate." However, beyond the fact that ささぐ is a 五段 verb and ささげる is an 一段 verb, I really have no idea how/when to use which.

Thank you,

Rhama Arya Wibawa
  • 43
  • 5
  • 5
    The dictionaries on Yahoo ([大辞泉](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&stype=0&dtype=0&dname=0na&p=%E3%81%95%E3%81%95%E3%81%92%E3%82%8B)・[大辞林](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&stype=0&dtype=0&dname=0ss&p=%E3%81%95%E3%81%95%E3%81%92%E3%82%8B)) seem to say that ささぐ is a literary (文語) form of ささげる, so I imagine they have the same meaning. They also say ささぐ is a 下二段 verb rather than a 五段 verb. Since you say you're a beginner, perhaps you can stick to ささげる and ignore the literary form? –  Feb 07 '13 at 03:38
  • here's a context: I found ささぐ from a song, 「君にささぐ」which even I could guess the meaning. But then, as I practiced my reading with a book, I found 「おとなにささげる」and that led me to wonder what is the difference between the two. Also, the verb classifications I mentioned above is from imiwa, a Japanese dictionary (among others) app for iOS. – Rhama Arya Wibawa Feb 07 '13 at 03:55
  • Ah, I bet it uses edict. It looks like edict says ささぐ is a 五段 verb. –  Feb 07 '13 at 03:58
  • so, to sum it up, I could use ささげる to convey the meaning of "to dedicate" in most, if not all cases? Anyway, if you could give a sample sentence for each word and probably give the simple nuance explanation on each that would be awesome :) – Rhama Arya Wibawa Feb 07 '13 at 04:04
  • 6
    Yet another victim of the wrong information in EDICT…. As snailplane said, ささぐ is a 下二段 verb in Classical Japanese, not a 五段 verb. – Tsuyoshi Ito Feb 07 '13 at 04:42
  • 2
    Possibly related: http://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/5506/78 – istrasci Feb 07 '13 at 15:18
  • @snailplane: It looks like you have the answer to the question. – Jesse Good Feb 07 '13 at 22:35
  • Yes. Thanks for all to point out the flaw in edict dictionary. – Rhama Arya Wibawa Feb 07 '13 at 23:38
  • @JesseGood I don't feel comfortable answering. They asked "if you could give a sample sentence for each word and probably give the simple nuance explanation on each". I haven't studied Classical Japanese and I don't know what "nuance" it would have if you used the literary form. (It would "sound literary", I guess?) –  Feb 08 '13 at 07:31

1 Answers1

3

The meaning is exactly the same, but you'll only see ささぐ used in old/formal written text or in lyrics where the number of syllables matter a lot.

For all the other uses, stick to ささげる.

Kohsuke Kawaguchi
  • 5,299
  • 20
  • 28
  • ah, "where the number of syllables matter a lot," makes it a lot clearer. Thanks. – Rhama Arya Wibawa Feb 11 '13 at 04:57
  • I wasn't very clear, but "number of syllables matter a lot" refers to the use in lyrics alone. In written text it can be used without regard to syllables. For example, in a stele you would see ささぐ more commonly than ささげる – Kohsuke Kawaguchi Feb 11 '13 at 05:03