大八洲

Japanese
Kanji in this term
大 八 洲
おお
Grade: 1		 や
Grade: 1		 しま
Jinmeiyō
kun’yomi
Alternative spellings
大八州
大八島

Etymology

Compound of 大 (ō, “great, big”) +‎ 八 (ya, “eight>many”) +‎ 島 (shima, “island”), referring to the eight islands of Japan created by Izanagi and Izanami according to the Kojiki. However, 八 (ya) was also used in various ancient compounds to mean simply many, as opposed to specifically eight, so this term may be interpreted instead to mean originally "the many islands of Japan".

This compound most often uses the less-common spelling of 洲 for the shima (“island”) portion.[1][2]

First cited to a text from 849.[1]

Pronunciation

Proper noun

大(おお)八(や)洲(しま) • (Ōyashima) ←おほやしま (ofoyasima)?

  1. [from 849] Short for 大八洲国 (Ōyashima-guni): Japan

References
  1. “大八島・大八洲”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”)‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000
  2. “大八洲”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen]‎ (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
  3. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third 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. Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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