The history of totemo we saw in the plain-language article, we check here in Shinmura Izuru’s own words. We read two chapters of Nihon no Kotoba: “Yama-kotoba,” and its sequel “Totemo hokō.”
First, admitting he can’t say it himself
About the new way of speaking, totemo omoshiroi, Shinmura doesn’t only write as an observer. He also states, frankly, his own linguistic sense.
吾々の言語有機體は固定してしまつてゐると言つてよい。否定的にのみトテモを使ひなれた吾々には特別な模倣意志が起らない以上はとても使ひえないのである。
(Our linguistic organism, one may say, has become fixed. As long as we, who are used to using totemo only negatively, feel no special will to imitate, we simply cannot use totemo [positively].)
Interestingly, within this very sentence Shinmura himself actually uses totemo joined to negation, in “totemo tsukaie-nai.” The text itself demonstrates what the linguistic sense of someone “used to using totemo only negatively” is like.
Etymology: a shortening of totemo kakutemo
So how did Shinmura think of the etymology of totemo?
トテモは實はトテモカクテモの省略であることは勿論であるが、この省略法は鎌倉時代以後の語法であるらしい。
(That totemo is in fact a shortening of totemo kakutemo goes without saying, but this manner of shortening seems to be a usage from the Kamakura period on.)
What to notice here is that while he treats the skeleton of the etymology as not in question (“goes without saying”), on when this usage arose he keeps to a tentative form (“seems”).
Collecting old examples
Shinmura checks how the word was used in the old days through examples from actual texts. He lines up examples such as one from the Jōsuiki cited in the dictionary Nihon Dai-jirin, and Noh-play examples he was shown by his colleague Motoshima. One of them runs like this.
源氏くがにみちみちたり、とてものがれ給ふべき御身ならず
(The Genji forces fill the land. By no means is he a person who can escape.)
This is an example cited from the Jōsuiki. The totemo here means “no matter how,” and it is joined to a negative word (narazu). That is the same shape as today’s totemo … nai.
On the other hand, Shinmura also found examples that attach to positive content.
とても命は君のため
(Anyway, one’s life is for one’s lord.)
A line cited from the Noh play Ōeyama, where totemo means “anyway.” Having collected many examples like these, Shinmura shows that totemo could once be used with both positive and negative.
The conclusion on etymology
Having finished collecting examples, Shinmura sums up as follows.
其語源はやはり所詮、結局の意から轉化したので有らうと思ふ。
(Its etymology, after all, I think was probably converted from the sense of “in the end, after all.”)
Note the careful phrasing, “I think it was probably.” Here again Shinmura draws a clear line around what can be asserted. The skeleton — that it is a shortening of totemo kakutemo — he asserts. But on “from what sense, and how, it was converted,” he keeps to conjecture. This distinction is the chief pleasure of reading Shinmura.
Naming where information came from
There’s one more point in Shinmura’s text not to miss. At the opening of “Totemo hokō,” Shinmura says plainly that his longtime acquaintance Mr. Saka had published a piece in a magazine titled “The Meaning of Totemo” and sent it to him. And he quotes Saka’s piece in full. In Saka’s piece, thanks are expressed to Motoshima, who had told him of the Noh-play examples, and Shinmura himself adds, at the chapter’s end, that he had received a further helpful reference from Motoshima, noting “let me append it while I’m at it.”
Writing carefully who taught you what — this habit is exactly the same attitude as the thanks to Elder Watanabe in the kiseru chapter. Shinmura’s writing is not about deciding an etymology alone but about gathering the teachings of many people and checking them.
Summary
| Point | Detail |
|---|---|
| His own linguistic sense | We “used to using totemo only negatively” “simply cannot use” it [positively]; the sentence itself demonstrates it |
| Skeleton of the etymology | Totemo is a shortening of totemo kakutemo; the shortening seems to be from the Kamakura period on |
| Old examples | An example joined to negation in the Jōsuiki; one attaching to positive content in a Noh play. Once usable with both |
| How he concludes | Keeps to conjecture: “I think it was probably converted from the sense of ‘in the end’” |
| Attitude | Records carefully the names of those who taught him, and their writing |
In a nutshell — Shinmura Izuru checked the word totemo against both his own ear and medieval texts. He asserted what could be asserted, held back what couldn’t with a “probably,” and left on record the names of those who taught him.