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いと's definition:

①大変。非常に。▽程度がはなはだしい。
②〔下に打消の語を伴って〕それほど。たいして。

いたう (いたく)'s definition:

①はなはだしく。ひどく。
②うまく。
③〔下に打消の語を伴って〕それほど。たいして。

One context which I encountered both words in is from 源氏物語『若紫』

日もいと長きにつれづれなれば、夕暮れのいたう霞みたるにまぎれて、かの小柴垣のもとに立ち出で給ふ。

Where いと seems to translate as たいそう in modern Japanese, while いたう becomes ひどく. So いと positive and いたう negative?

Eddie Kal
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    I can’t answer your question about classical Japanese, but [ひどく](https://thesaurus.weblio.jp/content/ひどく喜ぶ) is not always negative. – aguijonazo Mar 06 '22 at 06:45
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    You haven't given much context, but I wouldn't say いと seems particularly "positive" in the sentence you've quoted. – Nanigashi Mar 06 '22 at 17:13
  • @Nanigashi Well, this is a typical 使い分け question, so rather than "What do they mean in this sentence?" (which I can't claim to have a firm grip on but do have plentiful notes on, so no need to ask), it's asking about the major general senses and usages. Compare: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1659/30454 – Eddie Kal Mar 06 '22 at 17:27
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    I understood your question, and I think it's a fine one (hence my upvote). I was just puzzled that you seemed to be suggesting that いと has positive connotations and いたう has negative ones, since the sentence you quoted appears to contradict that idea. – Nanigashi Mar 06 '22 at 23:39
  • @Nanigashi I appreciate the input! That was meant to give a sketch of my very immature and rough understanding. いたう aside, if we focus on いと, maybe we have different understandings of "positive"? But it's a 春日. A 長き春日 with 霞み and 山吹. What else could one ask for? I mean it's beautiful. 「霞立つ長き春日を插頭せれどいや懐しき梅の花かも」 – Eddie Kal Mar 07 '22 at 01:03
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    That's an interesting take on it, and of course a long spring day *is* sometimes depicted as an unambiguously good thing. In this case, though, I'd say Genji's boredom and need for diversion (日もいと長きに**つれづれ**なれば) tell us that he is finding the day a little *too* long. (And conversely, the presence of the concealing mist is quite convenient, so いたう is here used in connection with a positive circumstance.) Whether you accept that reading or not, I think you can easily find other examples that will confirm that neither いと nor いたう / いたく has exclusively positive or negative connotations. – Nanigashi Mar 08 '22 at 15:10

1 Answers1

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This is from 古語大鑑 (relevant entries: いた、いたし、いと).

  1. いたく is 連用形 of いたし, which is いた+し.
  2. For いたし, the dictionary says:

上代に副詞的に用いられた「いた（甚）」に活用語尾「し」のついた形。本来は「程度が甚だしい」の意で、良い意味にも悪い意味にも用いたが、後世には悪い意味が中心となった。

  1. For いた（甚・痛）, it says:

副詞「いと」は「いた」の母音交替型とする説があるが、平安時代には「いたし」が「平平平軽」、「いと」が「上平」と第一音節が一致せず(*)、同源の語とは確認できない。

*This is talking about tones.

  1. For いと（最・甚）, it says:

「いと」は形容的語義を持つ語を、（..)「いたく」は動作的語義を持つ語をそれぞれ修飾するという機能分担があったとされる。

So judging from these, both are originally neutral but いたく is often negative in more recent texts. And the last distinction matches your example.

sundowner
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