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I came across the following dialogue, which occurs right as the hero arrives:

「やっと来おったか。」

I'm not sure how to parse 来おった. Is it 来{き} + 居{お}る? If so, what exactly does this form mean? Do other verbs have a similar form?

Searching online, I see examples like とうとう来おった and ついに来おった, so my best guess right now is that the nuance is related to とうとう・ついに・やっと.

I've tried looking this up in paper dictionaries and online, but I'm having trouble finding it anywhere, so I thought I'd ask here!

hippietrail
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1 Answers1

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Yes, [来]{き}おる is a combination of [来]{く}る and [居]{お}る, although 居る in this usage is usually written in hiragana in the modern Japanese. Adding おる after the continuative form of a verb usually means that the speaker is looking down upon the subject of the verb. See sense 〔2〕-[2] in Daijirin and sense 3-① in Daijisen.

Tsuyoshi Ito
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    This is a bit of a long shot but would the use of おれば in the passage from my question " Meaning of 「おれば」＆「大手を振る」" convey a condescending tone on the part of the writer? – Tim Sep 16 '12 at 11:33
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    @Tim: That is a good point. I agree that it is possible. – Tsuyoshi Ito Sep 16 '12 at 12:51