上代日本語. A historical stage of Japanese which has the oldest attestation in documents currently known. Typically seen in 万葉集 (Man'yōshū; late 8c).
Questions tagged [old-japanese]
36 questions
13
votes
2 answers
What is the correct veritable meaning of 水無月 and 神無月?
This question is the result of a conversation with Chocolate in chat, and also this Japanese calendar I have that lists the months according to the traditional Japanese names.
For some reason, there exists some discrepancy about the literal meaning…
Chris
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9
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1 answer
Where does the -a stem come from with auxiliary-constructed transitive/intransitive verb pairs if the base verb is a 二段活用 (or カ行変格活用)?
It seems to be generally understood that transitive/intransitive verb pairs, when they are not a 四段活用 and a 二段活用 that share the same 終止形, were created by taking a base verb, whether transitive or intransitive, and adding an Old Japanese auxiliary -…
LittleWhole
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8
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2 answers
What does 花つ月 mean?
緋【あか】色【いろ】の花【はな】つ月【づき】
I'm trying to figure out the meaning for this part of kanji in a title for a series. The red flower month? The red flower moon? The month of blossoming red flowers? I'm totally at a loss as to how to interpret 'はなつづき'.
user7541
7
votes
3 answers
What is the grammar behind this sentence in old Japanese
Here's the first sentence from the song Reincarnation from Kenji Kawai, part of the OST of Ghost in the Shell (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z64HCi2rQkE)
A ga maeba, kuwashime yoinikeri
According to this site and this one, this writes in…
Antoine Trouve
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6
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2 answers
Is this an old, alternate or incorrect way of writing 考?
Is this form of writing 考える correct? It has an extra stroke which turns the bottom portion into 与. I haven't seen it before and haven't been able to find it after searching. If it is correct, what kind of form is it?
lojordih
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6
votes
1 answer
Why did です eventually overtake なり？
More of a history question... I understand です became more commonly used in late Edo, but before that (as I understand) it was commonly associated with low-society life, such as prostitutes and thieves as portrayed by theatre during the earlier era.…
Ryan
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5
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1 answer
What is つ in 中つ国 and why is it equivalent to の?
According to Wikipedia:
中つ国（なかつくに）とは中間の国、中央の国を意味し、「つ」は現代語の「の」に相当する。中津国、中国とも書く。
I looked for 津 in a dictionary but it seems to be an 当て字 so I did not get new information. But I can't get why の was not used in place of つ (since つ and の seems to be…
永劫回帰
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4
votes
1 answer
五 without the top stroke in Edo period Japanese
While looking at an antique, I noticed that what I assume is the character 「五」is missing the top stroke. It's written this way three times. Below are two examples, which I think read 十五人 and 明和五. The second one seems to indicate it is from 1769, so…
Khai
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4
votes
1 answer
Historical use of さん
In the song 宮さん宮さん (明治時代)
宮さん宮さん お馬の前に
ひらひらするのは 何じゃいな
As far as I can see it is referring to the emperor using さん、has its formality changed since that era? Or is it being ironic
Snaut
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4
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How difficult is the 万葉集 to read?
From my understanding, the 万葉集 is written in 万葉仮名 which uses a limited set of characters solely for their 音読み reading rather than for their semantic meaning.
In light of this, I am curious how difficult it is for a Native Japanese speaker to be able…
JessicaK
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4
votes
2 answers
Is there a good explanation for the forms 大きな, 小さな and 多くの?
Is there a good historical/etymological explanation why 大きい and 小さい can take the な ending in attributive position?
Also, is there a good historic/etymological explanation why 多い in attributive use turns into 多くの-?
Pregunto
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4
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1 answer
Question about verbs in Old Japanese
Does anybody with in-depth knowledge of Old Japanese know why vowel-based verbal stems could only end in -e or -i (leading to the える/いる or type 2 class of verbs in Modern Japanese)? Why are there no cases of vowel based verbal stems ending in e.g.…
Pregunto
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3
votes
1 answer
How to write and sing Shigin (Japanese way of chanting poem) properly?
1, Should Shigin be written in Yamato (old Japanese language)? Or an even older version of Japanese? Can I write it in modern Japanese?
2, Are there rules for Shigin? Such as setting rhythms, melodies, rhymes, etc? Is 5-7-5 form required?
3,…
BlackXIII
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3
votes
2 answers
aru Kanji confusion
In the sentence:
今日は宿題があります。
would I use
在る or 有る?
(I know that today it's almost always written in Kana)
Thanks in advance :)!
ラデシャ
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3
votes
1 answer
Old Japanese vowels in kana
The modern Japanese vowels /e,o/ each represent two Old Japanese vowels, arbitrarily written e ë o ö in romaji. I assume that Japanese philologists don't all use romaji, so is there a convention for distinguishing these vowels in kana?
Anton Sherwood
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