でかい

Japanese

Etymology

Found in Hida dialect during the Edo period.[1]

Generally considered to be a variation from どいかい (doikai), from the emphasizing prefix ど (do-, “very”) and the adjective 厳い (ikai, “great, huge, many”). The Nihon Kokugo Daijiten states that the sound change of /doikai/ → /dekai/ does not match the facts of the term's development. However, the /oi/ → /e/ sound shift is quite common in Japanese, and the question may hinge on which form appeared first, でかい (dekai) or でっかい (dekkai). If でかい (dekai) evolved from でっかい (dekkai) instead of the other way around, the do + ikai derivation would not explain the geminate /-kk-/ in でっかい (dekkai). The Nihon Kokugo Daijiten suggests an alternative derivation of でこ (deko, “hugely, enormously”, adverb; old slang or dialect term, persisting in modern でこでこ (dekodeko)) + 厳い (ikai, “great, huge, many”):[2] */deko ikai/ → */dekoikai/ → */dekekai/ → /dekkai/ → /dekai/.

Also said to be the adjective form of でかし, from いでかす, transitive of 出で来 (ideku, “to appear”).[3] However, the semantic development required for this is improbable, and this is more likely a folk etymology.

Pronunciation

Adjective

でかい (-i inflection, rōmaji dekai)

  1. (colloquial) huge, big, severe, intense

Inflection
Inflection of でかい
Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形) でかかろ dekakaro
Continuative (連用形) でかく dekaku
Terminal (終止形) でかい dekai
Attributive (連体形) でかい dekai
Hypothetical (仮定形) でかけれ dekakere
Imperative (命令形) でかかれ dekakare
Key constructions
Informal negative でかくない dekaku nai
Informal past でかかった dekakatta
Informal negative past でかくなかった dekaku nakatta
Formal でかいです dekai desu
Formal negative でかくないです dekaku nai desu
Formal past でかかったです dekakatta desu
Formal negative past でかくなかったです dekaku nakatta desu
Conjunctive でかくて dekakute
Conditional でかければ dekakereba
Provisional でかかったら dekakattara
Volitional でかかろう dekakarō
Adverbial でかく dekaku
Degree でかさ dekasa

Synonyms

Derived terms
  • でっかい (dekkai)
  • でけー (dekē), でっけー (dekkē)

References
  1. “江戸時代の飛騨方言・でかい”, in (Please provide the title of the work)‎, accessed 15 July 2017, archived from the original on 6 November 2018
  2. 知ってそうで知らない「でかい」の語源 : 李も桃もモモのうち。
  3. でかい - 語源由来辞典
  4. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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