かばね

Japanese

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese.[2][1]

Ultimate derivation unclear. Some theories derive this clan sense as a Japanese compound of (kabu, stock, root) + (ne, root, origin) or (na, name). However, the required /u//a/ sound shift would be unusual.

Another thought is that this might be a borrowing from, or somehow otherwise related to, Korean 골품 (golpum), a Sino-Korean term also spelled 骨品 (literally bones + goods), the name for a kind of kinship hierarchy that was prevalent in the Silla kingdom. This latter theory and its related bone sense might also account for the homophony with , (kabane, corpse, dead body).

Noun

かばね (rōmaji kabane)

  1.  : clan
    Synonym: (uji)
  2. (historical) a kind of hereditary title bestowed to clans in ancient Japan
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Old Japanese. Appears in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.[3]

Probably cognate with kabane (“clan”) above.

Noun

かばね (rōmaji kabane)

  1. , : corpse, dead body
    Synonyms: , (shikabane), 死骸 (shigai)
  2. , : (after full decomposition) a skeleton, bones
    Synonym: 骸骨 (gaikotsu) (skeleton)
  3. : short for 尸冠 (shikabane kanmuri), the radical
Derived terms
Idioms
  •  (かばね) ()をあやす (kabane ni chi o ayasu): “to drip blood on a corpse” → to speak ill of the dead
  •  (かばね) (はじ) (kabane no haji): “the shame of a corpse” → something shameful that only becomes known after someone has died

References

  1. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. 1988, 国語大辞典(新装版) (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  3. c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 18, poem 4094), text here

Further reading

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