Nouns & Pronouns

第016課: Nouns & Pronouns 古語における名詞・代名詞

     Nouns and pronouns are probably the most familiar and easy aspects of Classical Japanese. There are two main sources of vocabulary in Classical Japanese: Sino-Japanese words (漢語) and native Japanese words (大和言葉). Native words are much more common, and it is only as time progresses that Sino-Japanese words begin to make a big chunk of the lexicon. With this being the case, the further in time you go back, the more likely you will encounter older native words that have since been replaced with Sino-Japanese vocabulary.

Nouns　上代日本語における名詞

There are four kinds of nouns in Classical Japanese grammar: proper, common, numerical, and nominal (dummy) nouns. Their functions can be described as follows in the same order with their Japanese terminology.

固有名詞	The names of people, groups, and/or places.
普通名詞	Words that represent generic names of people, places, things, ideas, etc.
数名詞	Words that express number: numbers themselves or counter phrases.
形式名詞	Nouns which carry grammatical functions that have lost whatever literal meaning they may have once had. They consequently nominalize their modifiers.

Many of the nouns that exist throughout older iterations of Japanese survive into the present, but their spellings and pronunciations have changed considerably, especially if the word contains a long vowel in Modern Japanese. However, competent knowledge of Kanji spellings in modern writing can at least help you identify what the words mean if you are still getting used to traditional orthography. 

Because we will be learning about numerical and nominal nouns separately in future lessons, the following chart will introduce a handful of proper and common nouns with their original readings.  

語彙	読み	英訳
故	ゆゑ	Reason
無常	むじやう	Impermanence
三笠の山	みかさのやま	Mt. Mikasa
少納言	せうなごん	Shōnagon
夕顔	ゆふがほ	Evening face
源氏	げんじ	Genji
聲	こゑ	Voice

1. 程(ほど)経(へ)て
After time has passed…
From the 徒然草.

2. いつしか梅(うめ)咲かむ。
I wish that the plum would bloom as soon as possible.
From the 更級日記.

3. 月は在明(ありあけ)にて
The moon was that of dawn…
From the 奥の細道.

4. いざ給(たま)へ、出雲(いづも)拝(をが)みに 
Well, please come, in order to make a pilgrimage to Izumo.
From the 徒然草.

Pronouns　古式代名詞

Pronouns have been in constant flux in Japanese. Although the language did start out with a monosyllabic pronoun for first person in the form of 我, mostly everything else has been adapted from other nouns which eventually became used as pronouns. 

The chart below organizes the most important pronouns used during Classical Japanese. They are organized by person and are accompanied with brief notes on how they were used.

人称	表記	読み	使用
①	我・吾	わ（れ）あ（れ）	Basic first person pronoun that was inherited from proto-Japanese. It survives into Modern Japanese in varied yet limite capacity.
①	我（が）輩・吾（が）輩	わがはい	Originally starting out as meaning “my fellows,” it eventually began to be used to refer to oneself. Today it is rather haughty and was popularized by the author 夏目漱石.
①	某	それがし	This was the pronoun of choice for samurai of the 江戸時代.
①	妾	わらは	Used primarily by women of military familiars in Edo-near modern times. It was a part of humble speech to these women.
①	阿直岐	わちきあちき	A first-person pronoun used by women from the red-light district.
①	豫・余	よ	This pronoun is somewhat formal and was primarily used by men.
①	僕・吾・余・臣	やつかれ	A humble first-person pronoun that would equivalent to the modern わたくしめ.
①	朕	ちん	It has been used by royals in both China and Japan for centuries as the Royal We, but it fell out of use in Japan at the close of World War II.
①②	己	おのれ	Based on the reflexive pronoun おの, it has and continues being used in either the first or second person depending on context. It dates back as far as the 万葉集, but it truly kicked off as a first-person pronoun from the 平安時代 onward. Although it used typically in a condescending manner when used as a second-person pronoun, it may be used as a humbling pronoun when used in the first-person. It survives as a common pronoun in some western dialects, where it may be seen morphed as うぬ（れ）.
①	麿	まろ	Starting out as a stand-alone male name in Old Japanese, from the 平安時代 onward, it could be seen used as a first-person pronoun used by either gender. Nowadays, it is sometimes used in the speech of nobility in literary works and translations of works that much such a setting.
①	あつし	同左	Used by commoners, men and women alike, and is believed to be a contraction of あたし. It became commplace in the late 江戸時代 and can still be heard in traditional 下町弁.
①	拙者	せつしや	Used mainly by samurai to humble themselves.
①	拙僧	せつそう	Used by monks to humble themselves.
①	吾人	ごじん	Once used by men in letter correspondences.
①	身共	みども	Plural, it is used to refer to one’s fellows or those below you, but may occasionally also be used in the singular.
①	皆（人）	みな(ひと)	“Everyone,” it survives in the forms みな・みんな.
①②	手前	てまへ	Either used as a humble first-person pronoun or as a condescending second-person pronoun.
②	貴様	きさま	Although it initially started as being used towards superiors with a rather light amount of respect, it quickly devolved into an epithet.
②	御主	おぬし	Not appearing until the 室町時代, it has always been used ironically to refer to people of lower status.
②	其の方	そのはう	Used by samurai, monks, and the like, it was used towards people of equal or lower status.
②	其方	そなた	Used largely towards those of lower status.
②	汝	なんぢ  なむぢ	Similar in usage to modern 貴方, it was neither honorific nor terribly rude at the same time.
③	彼	かれ	This word was essentially the same as あれ, being interchangeable with the difference lying in かれ being used in story-telling in which the thing/person is not actually physically present. There was no distinction between his/her.
③	彼女	かのぢよ	This word didn’t exist in Classical Japanese, but it was finally coined in the 明治時代 due to Western influence.
?	誰	た（れ）	The original form of the interrogative pronoun is presumed to not have been voiced, but further research in ancient dialectology may prove this to be wrong.