Looking up the etymology for this page, I got really distracted by 一 and 二. These two kanji (meaning 1 and 2) are two of the simplest characters that exist and, along with 三 (3), some of the first kanji/characters that you learn1. However, numbers are one of the most complicated and confusing things I’ve tried to learn in Japanese. Each number has multiple pronunciations, and thus far to me, it’s not always clear which one to go with.
Tag Archives: japanese history
Piano no Mori – A Real Heart has Chambers
At first glance, 必 (kanara, meaning must) and 心 (kokoro, meaning heart) look very similar2. Tracing the evolution of the character shows however that they actually started out as two completely different characters and converged over time.
Piano no Mori – Early Roadblocks
This page was rough. I’m still very early stages in learning Japanese and there’s not nearly so much to hang onto here as there was on the first page. (Learning to introduce yourself is one of the few things you learn when you first start learning a language, so I definitely got lucky last time.) I found that 的(teki) has a fascinating history. The meaning of indicating possession matches the Chinese 的(de), but it’s thought that the sound actually was adopted from the English adjective ending “-tic” as in “spastic” or “plastic” during the Meiji Era (late 1800s – early 1900s).
Japanese Etymology: Piano no Mori
I find the etymology of Japanese words super interesting, partly because it helps me remember my vocab, and partly for its own sake. I’m going to try to work my way through translating the first volume of Piano no Mori, a manga about two boys of very different backgrounds who grow up playing the piano. I love this story, and I hope that will motivate me to put time into this project. Just on the first page, we see quite a few interesting etymologies. 宮 (miya) means palace or shrine. (In Chinese, 宮 (gong1) also means palace.) Miya is actually a compound word in Japanese, from 神 (kami, meaning god or spirit) and 屋 (ya, meaning house).
Etymology Adventures 