User:Chuterix/Proto-Japonic

Proto-Japonic

Old Japanese

Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of Japanese. Written both phonetically and logographically; many Old Japanese sources are from poems, but various glosses are scattered through Japanese history records. Important sources are:

Kojiki, 712 CE
Fudoki, 8th century
Nihon Shoki, 720 CE
Bussokusekika, 753 CE
Man'yōshū, c. 759 CE
Shōsōin documents, 8th century
Mokkan, 6th-8th century?

An example of phonetic poem:

711–712, Kojiki, poem 1:

夜久毛多都伊豆毛夜弊賀岐都麻碁微爾夜弊賀岐都久流曾能夜弊賀岐袁
ya kumo₁ tatu Idumo₁ yape₁gaki₁ tuma gomi₂ ni yape₁gaki₁ tukuru so₂no₂ yape₁gaki₁ wo
[Where] eight clouds rise, Idumo's eight layer fence; for my spouse to dwell in, [I] make [this] eight layer fence; oh, this eight layer fence!

Another one, mixed phonetically and logographically:

c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 7, poem 1167:

朝入為等礒爾吾見之莫告藻乎誰嶋之白水郎可将苅
asari SU to₂ ISO₁ ni WA GA MI₁ si nano₂riSO₂ wo IDURE NO₂ SIMA NO₂ AMA ka KARIKE₁MU
When I gone hunting, I had saw the rocks; which island to the gulfweed, [I] should've cut [that] diver...

In Kojiki vowel distinction 1 & 2 exist for po and mo, but lost in all other Old Japanese texts.

Po (po2) vs pwo (po1) manyogana for poems.

According to Bentley (2015):

富 (MC pjuwH) - po₂

本 (MC pwonX) - po₁

菩 (MC bu|bojX|bjuwX|bok) - po₁

But for Old Japanese 欲し (po₂si, “wanted, desired”), this is erroneously spelled as 本斯 (po₁si). According to Vovin (2010), a section of Shoki preserve A/B distinction of po. According to Vovin (2011) Shoki had more phonetic accuracy (see shiri etymology). Meanwhile analysis of Kojiki shows that manyogana syllables are constant.

For Old Japanese 外 (poka, “outter part”), this is only attested in Manyoshu, where A/B distinction is lost. 2 phonetic spellings out of 5 exist. We could separate poka into po-ka ("other place") to resolve Arisaka's law. Hypothetical *po₍₁₎ka could get raised to *puka, but it's more problem that this is unattested in EOJ, and that this can be separatable into 2 morphemes. We see Northern Ryukyuan Kunigami ふか (fuka), Northern Amami Ōshima ほか (hoxa), Okinawan ふか (fuka), Yoron ふか (fuka), Southern Ryukyuan Miyako ぷか (puka), Yaeyama ふか (fuka), and Yonaguni ふが (fuga); definitely Proto-Japonic with Proto-Ryukyuan, being PR *poka, and either PJ *pəka or *poka.

Internal Etymologies

たり (-tari, person counter suffix 3+): Likely by some analogy with 二人 (putari > futari, “two people”).

美し (utukusi, “beautiful”): From うつ (utu > utsu, “hollow, inside, empty, etc.”) + 奇し (kusi, “mysterious”). Compare English wonderful. Compare also 麗し (urupasi).
麗し (urupasi, “beautiful”): Either from 潤う (urupu, “get soaked”), or from 心 (uru, “inner feeling”, not used in isolation) + 愛し (pasi, “lovely; dear”). However the compound derivation would produce Modern Japanese *uruhashii instead of real descendant 麗しい (uruwashii). Compare 美し (utukusi).
空 (so₁ra, “sky”) < PJ *sora: Likely referred to an empty space, by many means. If so, from Pre-Proto-Japonic *saura, analyzable as a compound さ (sa-, nominalizing prefix) + 裏 (ura, “inlet”). PJ diphthong *au results in OJ o₁. See also Proto-Ryukyuan *sora (“tip of a pole”).
玉 (tama, “ball”), 魂 (tama, “spirit”) < PJ *tama: Clearly cognates of each other (KDJ). Possibly from some fossilized 未然形 (mizenkei, “incomplete form”) of at least a cognate 回む (tamu, “to spin”), which usually follows 上二段活用 (kami nidan katsuyō, “upper bigrade conjugation”). Analyses do not relate to Modern Japanese 頭 (atama, “head”); see that entry for details.
帰る (kape₁ru, “to return”): PJ *ia corresponds to OJ e₁; many verb pairs have *-aru/-asu or *-əru/-əsu. So this is reconstructable as PJ *kapiaru. Could this be related to 貝 (kapi₁, “shellfish”), from the way some sea creatures return to their shells for hiding?

Plans

See User:Chuterix/To Do#Proto-Japonic.

Links

References

Resources

Contains some resources and some references.