The first topic promised in the overview article is how words are made. Kanazawa Shōzaburō begins the chapter “Jimoku-bikō” (“Ear, Eye, Nose, Mouth”) of Kokugo no kenkyū (1910) with a general remark about how words come about.
From names of things to names of actions
Kanazawa says: the ways words come about are various, but among them there is one kind in which an action (working) serves as the name of a thing, and, according to a name, an action is named.
First, an example of an action becoming a name of a thing.
- Tachi (sword): because it “cuts through,” it is called tachi. (Kanazawa’s explanation)
Next, examples of a name of a thing becoming a name of an action. Kanazawa gives several like these.
| Name of a thing | Name of an action |
|---|---|
| kumo (cloud) | kumoru (to cloud over) |
| chikara (strength) | rikimu (to strain) |
| kubi (neck) | kubiru (to strangle) |
| te (hand) | toru (to take) |
For example, because there are clouds, the sky “clouds over.” Because it’s done with the neck, it’s “strangle.” Because it’s done with the hand, it’s “take.” The name of the thing becomes, as it stands, the source of the name of the action tied to it.
Applying this picture to the eye
Kanazawa applies this picture straight to the parts of the body. “That we call the working of the eye miru (to see) is one such example,” he says. That is, there is a thing-name, “me” (eye), and among “actions done with the eye” is “miru.” With the same idea he goes on to line up nose, ear, and mouth. We follow that development in the next article and the close reading.
What is certain here, and what isn’t
That a name of an action can come from a name of a thing — or, conversely, a name of a thing from an action — is still widely seen today as an account of how Japanese words are formed. But for individual words, which came first can be hard to decide. “Tachi from kiri-tatsu” is also Kanazawa’s own explanation. In this article we introduced the examples Kanazawa gave as Kanazawa’s view.
Summary
| Point | Detail |
|---|---|
| The mechanism | A name of an action can come from a name of a thing, and a name of a thing from an action |
| Thing → action | kumo → kumoru, chikara → rikimu, kubi → kubiru, te → toru |
| Action → thing | kiri-tatsu → tachi |
| Applied to the eye | Grasps the thing “eye” and the action “see” with the same picture |
In a nutshell — Japanese has ways of making names of actions from names of things, and names of things from actions. Kanazawa Shōzaburō extended that picture to eye, nose, ear, and mouth.