文語（古文）. The classical literary form of the language based on Early Middle Japanese.
Questions tagged [classical-japanese]
175 questions
19
votes
3 answers
What form is あり?
On the road outside my daughter's nursery is painted 保育園アリ. I guess this is a form of ある, but what's it called, and why is あり used not ある？
Abbief
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How do you join たる-adjectives?
When joining い-adjectives and な-adjectives, you simply put them in 連用形 + て:
この料理は美味しくて安いです。
田中さんは綺麗で親切です。
However, I have a bit of trouble with たる-adjectives. I couldn't find any resources on it.
If I wanted to say something was 堂々たり and 平然たり,…
LittleWhole
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Haphazard usage of katakana and hiragana for particles and okurigana
I'm looking at this picture of the 日米和親条約 (Kanagawa convention) from the late Edo period and it seems rather strange:
It looks like the non-kanji parts are rather haphazardly written in katakana and hiragana. For example, the first part: 全権 ニテユカル…
ithisa
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14
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Use of kana iteration marks (ゝ, ゞ, ヽ, ヾ)
Kana iteration marks are are rarely used today, and hence there is not much online information on it besides this Wikipedia article, which leaves me with a couple questions.
Is there any kana that cannot be expressed with an iteration mark? What…
Meshaal
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12
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What does 「／＼」 mean in this sentence?
皆さん、こんにちは！
Now, I've been reading 竹取物語 and have come across (another) set of symbols that I've yet to understand. Given the following sentence.
かくて翁やう／＼豐になり行く。
What does the sudden 「／＼」 mean?
Tirous
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12
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1 answer
Recognizing old Japanese handwriting
Can you please help me with recognizing this line in old Japanese handwriting?
As I suppose, this is:
? やき ？ っすれ ？ の二
but it's most likely that I am wrong
Julia
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12
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2 answers
Why was 邪 chosen to spell the names of 伊邪那岐神 and 伊邪那美神 in the 古事記?
I had been wondering about this for a while. Consider the spelling of he names of Izanagi and Izanami in the 古事記:
伊邪那岐神【いざなぎのかみ】 and (妹【いも】)伊邪那美神【いざなみのかみ】
(source)
Both of their names use the kanji 邪, which, at least today, is associated with a…
blutorange
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12
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Old way of counting people?
I always found it funny how the counter for people, 人, has the special cases [一人]{ひとり}, [二人]{ふたり}, but then continues [三人]{さんにん}, [四人]{よにん}, ...
However, this summer I came across a neat bit of info. If you go to bunraku plays or similar…
Espen Nielsen
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12
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"Irregular" 命令形 of some verbs
Recently I've noticed several verbs where the imperative form is used in a way that is not the "correct" conjugation.
くれる → くれ！ → The one we're all used to
つける → つけ！ → An example from my プログレッシブ dictionary: 「気をつけ」と先生が号令をかけた。
はじめる → はじめ！ → Said…
istrasci
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11
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3 answers
Mora count for 思ふ in Classical Japanese?
During an analysis I was performing of the poems contained in the 古今集 I noticed a curious pattern. Otherwise perfectly-formed poems included in the collection seemed to ignore the morae-count on a consistent basis with respect to the verb 思ふ【おもふ】,…
Kaji
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Why do 為る【する】 and 為す【なす】 use the same kanji as 為【ため】?
Why do the verbs 為る【する】 and 為す【なす】 ("to do") use the same kanji as 為【ため】 ("because of", "for the sake of", etc.)? I'm not seeing any obvious connection between the meanings of する・なす and ため that would explain why they use the same kanji, and they…
senshin
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What is the meaning of "できたれば"?
What does "できたれば" mean in the following sentence?
予とてわかっておる……目の上の瘤が取れ、心持ちに余裕ができたればこそそんな思いも浮かぶのだ。かつては考えもせなんだことを
I assume it's related to できる but why is it not できれば?
ssuga
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9
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(伊曾保物語) 鼠と猫の事 comprehension problem "只、人は、愚にして、他人にぬかれたるにしくはなし"
I am having trouble parsing/understanding/translating a sentence in
the last section of the fable "the mice and the cat" (鼠と猫の事)
from the 仮名草子 伊曾保物語 (Aesop's fables). Here is the paragraph
in question; it's the "moral" of the…
Qyn6
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9
votes
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Does the verb 死ぬ has a 死ぬる form?
I have come across a conjugation of 死ぬ verb which I've never heard before. It is 死ぬる, I have heard it in a TV show, you can see the relevant part in this video.
Is this a depreciated form? If so, what meaning does it have? Can you use it in an…
hkBattousai
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9
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Did standalone noun “好き” mean a person in classical Japanese?
In classical Japanese, did standalone noun “好き” mean a person who likes something? I do not think that it does in modern Japanese, although it sometimes means a person when used as a suffix (e.g. 野球好きが集まる公園).
If it did, it explains why 好き can be…
Tsuyoshi Ito
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