けむ

See also: ケム

Japanese

Etymology 1

Alternative spellings

(uncommon)

/kemuri//kemu/

Clipping of (kemuri, smoke).[1][2]

Attested since at least 1275.[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

けむ • (kemu) 

  1. [from 1275] , : (informal, colloquial) smoke

Etymology 2

⟨ke1mu⟩ → */kʲemu//kemu/

From Old Japanese けむ. Attested in the Kojiki of 712[1] and the Man'yōshū of 759 and earlier.[1][5]

Various theories exist regarding the ultimate derivation of this auxiliary verb suffix.[1][5][2]

The ke conjugation for past-recollective (ki) is only hypothetically considered to be the irrealis form. This ke is not found outside of a small handful of suffixes such as this けむ (kemu), its derivative けまく (kemaku), and separate けく (keku), and it remains largely unexplained. That said, the initial /s-//k-/ alternation exhibited in the better-documented conjugated forms is also largely unexplained.
*/ki pe mu/ → */kifemu/? → */kiemu//kemu/
Due to the presence of initial /p-/ in the medial Old Japanese (pe, continuative stem, terminal form was pu), the phonological shifts required for this derivation ultimately make this theory seem quite unlikely: linguists generally reconstruct initial /p-/ for Old Japanese and hold that this did not undergo lenition until the late Nara period (710–794) or early Heian period (794–1185), while ⟨ke1mu⟩/kʲemu/ is already attested in the Kojiki of 712.
*/ki amu/ → */kiamu//kʲemu//kemu/
This hypothetical reconstructed amu form for the suppositional suffix is favored by linguists such as Bjarke Frellesvig and Alexander Vovin.

Alternative forms

Suffix

けむ • (-kemu) 

  1. [from 712] (Classical Japanese) used to make the past conjectural form of verbs
    1. presents a supposition about a past event
    2. presents a supposition about the cause of a past event
    3. presents hearsay about a past event
Conjugation

Attaches to the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, continuative or stem form).

This word is morphologically an inflectional suffix. It is classified as 助動詞 (jodōshi, auxiliary verb) in traditional Japanese grammar.

Synonyms

References

  1. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  4. NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
  5. Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
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