Talk:な

Plural?

@Chuterix, any chance you could quote the part in Vovin proposing that this is a plural marker? I don't have access to A Descriptive and Comparative Grammar of Western Old Japanese, and I am not going to pay $500+ for a PDF e-book version -- that is just criminally greedy on the part of the Bril people. Anyway, I can't think of any cases where this would make sense as a plural marker, neither semantically nor syntactically. ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │^{Tala við mig} 22:26, 7 December 2023 (UTC)

It's also bizzare Brill does this (if you're a well comtributor to Wikimedia services than you have access to Wikipedia Library (Brill is accessible there)). Anyways, here I go (formatting may be bad): Chuterix (talk) 23:14, 7 December 2023 (UTC)

ugh copy paste doesn't work to wiktionary on my phone; will do later Chuterix (talk) 23:14, 7 December 2023 (UTC)

1.2.1.4 Plural Marker -na

There is another plural marker -na in Western Old Japanese that is not produc-

tive: it survives predominantly in compounds. Traditional Japanese analysis

defines it as a genitive case marker in some cases (Yamada 1954: 419–420), and

as a locative suffix in other cases (Omodaka et al. 1967: 512–513; Ōno 1990: 964),

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120 Chapter 4

but a closer examination reveals that it has nothing to do with either the geni-

tive or the locative. This plural marker also survives in modern compounds like

ta-na-gokoro ‘palm of the hand(s),’ ma-na-ko ‘pupil of the eye,’ etc. From the

examples below it becomes clear that -na follows stems of nouns designating

paired body parts (ma- ‘eye,’ ta- ‘hand,’ a- ‘foot’), objects usually used in multi-

tude (nu- ‘jewel’), and two temporal nouns: asa-na ‘mornings’ (asa ‘morning’),

more frequently appearing in the reduplicated form as asa-na [a]sa-na ‘every

morning’ (also surviving in Classical Japanese poetry as asa-na asa-na ‘every

morning’) and yupu-na ‘evenings’ (yupu ‘evening’).16 Such usage seems to be

in perfect agreement with the above proposal that -na represents a relic plural

marker. It is interesting that it predominantly occurs with inanimate nouns,

although from the historical view it appears that it could have been used with

animate nouns as well at one time (see on suffix -naŋgara below).

麻奈迦比爾母等奈可可利提

ma-na kapi-ni mǝtǝna kakar-i-te

eye-PLUR interval-LOC for.no.reason hang-CONV-SUB

[they] hover for no reason in front (lit.: between) [my] eyes (MYS 5.802)

伊勢乃白水郎之朝魚夕菜尓潜

ISE-nǝ AMA-NƏ ASA-na YUPU-na-ni KAⁿDUK-U

Ise-GEN fisherman-GEN morning-PLUR evening-PLUR-LOC dive-FIN

Fishermen of Ise dive [into the sea] in the mornings and in the evenings

(MYS 11.2798)

If -na was a locative case marker, as tradition has it, it is incomprehen-

sible why it would have another locative case marker -ni after it, as in

yupu-na-ni ‘in the evenings.’ This example, therefore, proves, that -na is

not a locative case marker.

16 There is also yo-na yo-na (night-PLUR night-PLUR) ‘every night,’ attested in the kana

glosses in the Nihonshoki text (Omodaka et al. 1967: 800), but since these glosses are later

than any Old Japanese texts, I omit this example here. In the first edition of this grammar

I have also believed that OJ mina ‘water’ also includes plural -na, but now I think that this

word consists of the honorific prefix mi- and na(m) ‘water,’ which is found in compounds,

cf. na-ⁿ-tuk- ‘to soak in water,’ naminda ‘tear’ (n.) < *nam-i-ma/ita ‘water of the eye.’ This

na(m) ‘water’ is strikingly resemblant of Proto-Kadai *r-nam or *d-nam ‘water.’

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121NOMINALS

奈泥之故我波奈爾毛我母奈安佐奈佐奈見牟

naⁿdesiko-ŋga pana n-i moŋgamǝ na asa-na [a]sa-na MI-m-u

carnation-POSS flower DV-CONV DP EP morning-PLUR morning-PLUR see-

TENT-FIN

[I] wish [you] were a carnation flower! So [I] would see [you] every morning

(MYS 17.4010)

Another evidence against -na as a locative case marker comes from this

and the next example. To the best of my knowledge, there are no cases of

reduplication in Old Japanese that would have a locative case marker on

both members of a reduplicated form.

阿佐奈佐奈安我流比婆理爾奈里弖之可

asa-na [a]sa-na aŋgar-u pimbari n-i nar-i-te-si ka

morning-PLUR morning-PLUR rise-ATTR skylark DV-CONV become-CONV-

PERF-PAST/ATTR EP

every morning, [I] want to have become a skylark, flying up (MYS 20.4433)

Other examples of -na in the phonographic script:

(1) 奴那登 nu-na-to̱ (< nu-na oto̱) ‘jewel sound.’ This compound occurs in the

following passage in the Kojiki:

天照大御神先乞度建速須佐之男命所佩十拳劍。打折三段而。奴那登母母由

良迩【此八字以音。下效此】振滌天之眞名井而

The Great Goddess Amaterasu first asked Susanowo-no mikoto for a sword

as long as ten spans, broke it in three parts, and with the sound of jewels

[[read] these eight characters by sound. [when you see these characters]

below follow this reading] washed them in the Heavenly Well (KJK 1.16a)

The passage is not quite clear, but it probably describes that parts of the broken

sword were clinging to one another like the jewels. In any case, it is quite obvi-

ous that several jewels must have been involved, as one jewel does not produce

any sound. Thus, I gloss 奴那登 nu-na-[o]to̱ as ‘sound[s] of jewels.’

(2) 多奈須衛 ta-na suwe ‘finger nails’ (lit.: ‘hands’ end’) and 安那須惠 a-na

suwe ‘toe nails’ (lit. ‘feet end’). These compounds occur in a commentary in the

Nihonshoki, where they transcribe characters 手端 ‘hands end’ and 足端 ‘feet

end’ in the following passage:

是以有手端吉棄物。足端凶棄物。

[Susanowo’s] fingernails became offerings [bringing] luck, and [his] toenails

became offerings [protecting from] calamity (NSK 1.35.7)

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122 Chapter 4

Historically, the same plural marker -na is found within the suffix -na ŋgara

‘having the nature of’ < na, plural marker + -ŋ-, genitive + kara ‘clan,’ ‘nature.’ As

one can see, it precedes the genitive marker -ŋ- < -nǝ, so it is highly unlikely that

there were two genitive markers on the top of each other. From the same point

of view, a compound such as ta-na- ŋ-gǝkǝrǝ (‘hand-PLUR-GEN-heart’) ‘palm of

the hand(s)’ would contain double genitive markers if -na is to be analyzed as

a genitive and not as a plural marker. Examples of -na ŋgara:

可武奈何良可武佐備伊麻須

kamu-na-ŋ-gara kamu-sambï imas-u

deity-PLUR-GEN-nature deity-like exist(HON)-FIN

[these two stones] are lying [there] having the nature of deities, and being

like deities (MYS 5.813)

臣奈何良自首之

OMI-na-ŋ-gara MIⁿDUKARA ARAPAs-i

noble-PLUR-GEN-nature self confess-CONV

having the nature of nobles, [he] himself confessed [his crime] (SM 53)

Comparative Data

Level A: Other Japonic

A1: Eastern Old Japanese

In Eastern Old Japanese -na is not productive, either. It occurs only in the com-

pound word yanaŋgï ‘willow.’

和加加都乃以都母等夜奈枳

wa-ŋga katu-nǝ itu-mǝtǝ ya-na-ŋ-gi17

I-POSS gate-GEN five-CL willow-PLUR-GEN-tree

five willow trees at my gate (MYS 20.4386)

A2: Ryukyuan

There is only one possible case of the plural marker -na in Ryukyuan, which

appears in the Omoro sōshi in a context where it is difficult to say whether it is

a plural or a genitive marker:

17 Cf. yanaŋgi (WOJ yanaŋgï) ‘willow’ and its doublet yaŋgï ‘id.’ Both words are based on a

Chinese loan ya- ‘willow’ (< MC 楊 yang ‘id.’) + - ŋ-, genitive; + -kï ‘tree.’ Like in the similar

examples provided above, -na- in yanaŋgï cannot be a genitive marker, because in that

case we would get two genitive markers. These doublets, therefore, provide extra evi-

dence for -na as a plural marker.

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123NOMINALS

くになつぢみちへ

kuni-na tudi mi-tife

country-PLUR?/GEN? summit look-SUB

looking at the province?/provinces? peaks (OS 14.1025)

Level B: External Comparisons

It is possible to reconstruct only proto-Japanese and not proto-Japonic plural

marker *-na, due to the lack of reliable attestations in Ryukyuan. There are no

external parallels, either. Chuterix (talk) 23:32, 7 December 2023 (UTC)