まがたま

Japanese
Alternative spellings
勾玉
曲玉
まがたま (magatama): various magatama beads.

Etymology

Compound of 曲が (maga, “bent, bending”, appears to be the 未然形 (mizenkei, “incomplete form”) of ancient verb 曲ぐ (magu, “to bend”), root of modern 曲がる (magaru, “to bend”, intransitive), 曲げる (mageru, “to bend something”, transitive)) +‎ 玉 (tama, “jewel”).[1][2]

Pronunciation
  • (Tokyo) まがたま [màgátámá] (Heiban – [0])[2]
  • IPA(key): [ma̠ɡa̠ta̠ma̠]

Noun

まがたま • (magatama) 

  1. a particular kind of curved bead, resembling a bear claw or cashew in shape, usually with a hole piercing the thick end
    These are found in Japanese culture since the prehistoric Jōmon period. See the Wikipedia article for more.

Derived terms

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
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