かばね
Japanese
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]From Old Japanese.[2][1]
Ultimate derivation unclear. Some theories derive this clan sense as a Japanese compound of 株 (kabu, “stock, root”) + 根 (ne, “root, origin”) or 名 (na, “name”). However, the required /u/ → /a/ sound shift would be unusual.
Another thought is that this might be a borrowing from, or somehow otherwise related to, Korean 골품 (golpum), a Sino-Korean term also spelled 骨品 (literally “bones + goods”), the name for a kind of kinship hierarchy that was prevalent in the Silla kingdom. This latter theory and its related bone sense might also account for the homophony with 屍, 尸 (kabane, “corpse, dead body”).
Noun
[edit]- 姓: clan
- Synonym: 氏 (uji)
- (historical) a kind of hereditary title bestowed to clans in ancient Japan
Derived terms
[edit]- 姓書 (kabane-gaki): (historical) someone's full name, written out with the status of their clan appended
- 姓名 (kabane na): clan name
- 八色の姓 (Yakusa no Kabane), 八色の姓 (Hasshiki no Kabane): a specific set of eight kabane titles promulgated by Emperor Tenmu in 675 CE
Etymology 2
[edit]From Old Japanese. Appears in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.[3]
Probably cognate with kabane (“clan”) above.
Noun
[edit]- 尸, 屍: corpse, dead body
- 尸, 屍: (after full decomposition) a skeleton, bones
- Synonym: (skeleton) 骸骨 (gaikotsu)
- 尸: short for 尸冠 (shikabane kanmuri), the 尸 radical
Derived terms
[edit]- 屍草 (kabane-gusa): literally “corpse grass”: alternative name for 屁糞葛 (hekuso kazura, literally “fart-shit vine”, Paederia foetida: the skunkvine, stinkvine, or Chinese fever vine); alternative name for 熊竹蘭 (kumatake ran, “Alpinia formosana”, a kind of flowering plant in the ginger family)
- 屍所 (kabane-dokoro): literally “corpse place”: a grave; one's final resting place, where one intends to die
Idioms
[edit]- 屍に血をあやす (kabane ni chi o ayasu): “to drip blood on a corpse” → to speak ill of the dead
- 屍の恥 (kabane no haji): “the shame of a corpse” → something shameful that only becomes known after someone has died
References
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- Etymology at Gogen-Allguide (in Japanese)