Talk:サラリーマン

Derivation

Often listed as wasei eigo. Ultimately not wasei eigo, as this comes from the well-documented English phrase salaried man. Per the Wikipedia page for wasei eigo:

The term Wasei-eigo (和製英語?, "Japanese-made English", "English words coined in Japan") refers to Japanese language expressions which superficially appear to come from English, but in fact do not.

As this term does in fact derive from an English phrase, it is by definition not wasei eigo. ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │^{Tala við mig} 18:29, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

@Eirikr I'm inclined to disagree, as the form "salaryman" itself does not come from English. It hadn't existed in English until the Japanese coined it. Therefore it's qualified as wasei eigo. You only stated that it derives from "salaried man". ばかFumiko￥^talk 06:59, 17 March 2016 (UTC)

@Eirikr I'd like to see if there was in fact such form as サラリードマン. If so, I'd agree this isn't wasei eigo. ばかFumiko￥^talk 07:26, 17 March 2016 (UTC)

• Whether or not any form サラリードマン existed is immaterial to whether サラリーマン derives from the English phrase salaried man: borrowings often undergo shifts in phonetics and/or meaning. Such phonetic or semantic shifts alone do not suffice to classify a term as wasei eigo.

That aside, please look at the available references: Daijirin (among others) clearly states a derivation from salaried man. ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │^{Tala við mig} 07:06, 18 March 2016 (UTC)