Meaning of や in this sentence

Question

美人だときくや友藏{ともぞう}もヒロシも身を乗り出した。
When? they heard that she was a beautiful women both 友藏 and ヒロシ leaned forward.

I have no idea what the や in bold is. It seems like it ought to be とき, but I've never seen や used to mean 'when'.

it conveys the sense of "in the instant that". i think it's more literary, but I'll leave it to a native speaker to give a fuller explanation. — A.Ellett, Aug 24 '16 at 18:00
I think it is mostly encountered as や否や, the meaning and grammar rule are the same. — 永劫回帰, Aug 24 '16 at 19:12

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 23 '16 at 17:16

6

I think this や is closer to the phrase "as soon as" than "when". See the first definition (classified as 接助 = conjunctive particle) in this link. http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/220994/meaning/m0u/%E3%82%84/

And this usage of や is very literary. I have not ever heard that in conversation.　

edited Oct 23 '16 at 17:16

Chocolate

answered Aug 24 '16 at 18:02

Yuuichi Tam

Thanks. What would be the informal/spoken equivalent? – user3856370 Aug 25 '16 at 14:02
1

"～するとすぐ" may be close to the one. – Yuuichi Tam Aug 25 '16 at 14:35

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 23 '16 at 16:30

2

や is short for やいなや which means "as soon as", "no sooner than".
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/je/4173/meaning/m0u/%E5%90%A6%E3%82%84/

So the translation becomes:
美人だときくや
As soon as they heard that she was a beautiful woman

answered Oct 23 '16 at 16:30

hisao m

3

`や is short for やいなや` <- No. や and やいなや can mean the same thing, but や is *not* short for やいなや. や, by itself, as well as the first や and the second や in **や**いな**や** , is a conjunctive particle, meaning "as soon as". http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/220994/meaning/m0u/%E3%82%84/ 「1⃣［接助］動詞・動詞型活用語の終止形に付く。ある動作・作用が行われると同時に、他の動作・作用が行われる意を表す。…とすぐに。…すると。『わたしの顔を見る**や**逃げ出した』」 Saying "や is short for やいなや" is like saying "'whether' is short for 'whether or not'," or "～か is short for ～かどうか". – Chocolate Oct 25 '16 at 15:12

2 Answers2