つとめて
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Japanese[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Compound of 夙 (tsuto, “early morning”) + めて (mete, uncertain).[1][2]
A surface analysis suggests that the -mete may have originated as the conjunctive -te form of the verb-forming suffix -meru (“to make something become more [of the suffixed term]”), as in words like 広める (hiromeru, “to widen”, from 広い (hiroi), “wide”). That said, -meru usually produces transitive verbs, contrasting with intransitive suffix -maru, and a transitive sense in this word seems out of place. Then again, at least one monolingual Japanese resource derives verb 務める (tsutomeru, “to be working, as an occupation”, intransitive) from the same root 夙 (tsuto) and this suffix -meru.[3]
First cited to The Tales of Ise of the early 900s.[2][4]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
- [from early 900s] (archaic) early morning
- 1002, Sei Shōnagon, The Pillow Book:
- 冬はつとめて。雪の降りたるはいふべきにもあらず、霜のいと白きも、またさらでもいと寒きに、火など急ぎおこして、炭もて渡るもいとつきづきし。昼になりて、ぬるくゆるびもていけば、火桶の火も白き灰がちになりてわろし。
- Fuyu wa tsutomete. Yuki no furitaru wa iubeki ni mo arazu, shimo no ito-shiroki mo, mata sarade mo ito-samuki ni, hi nado isogi-okoshite, sumi motewataru mo ito-tsukizukishi. Hiru ni narite, nuruku yurubi-moteikeba, hioke no hi mo shiroki hai ga chi ni narite waroshi.
- Winter is the early morning: for snow to fall and the frost so white, or otherwise it is very cold that the fires are lit in a hurry and charcoal are passed on; how suitable [for this season]. As it becomes noon, more relaxed and warmth brought in, the braziers’ flames are nothing but white ash.
- 冬はつとめて。雪の降りたるはいふべきにもあらず、霜のいと白きも、またさらでもいと寒きに、火など急ぎおこして、炭もて渡るもいとつきづきし。昼になりて、ぬるくゆるびもていけば、火桶の火も白き灰がちになりてわろし。
- [from late 900s] (archaic) next morning
- c. 1001–1014, Murasaki Shikibu, Genji Monogatari (Yūgao)
- 翌朝、少し寝過ぐし給ひて、日さし出づるほどに出で給ふ、朝明の姿は、げに人のめで聞こえむも、ことわりなる御さまなりけり。
- Tsutomete, sukoshi nesugushitamaite, hi sashi-izuru hodo ni idetamau, asake no sugata wa, ge ni hito no mede kikoen mo, kotowari naru ōnsama narikeri.
- Next morning, I’ll sleep through the night, then when the sun comes out, the image of the morning glow is what I saw: love of people; I have to listen, and even after that, reasoning still looks great.
- 翌朝、少し寝過ぐし給ひて、日さし出づるほどに出で給ふ、朝明の姿は、げに人のめで聞こえむも、ことわりなる御さまなりけり。
- c. 1001–1014, Murasaki Shikibu, Genji Monogatari (Yūgao)
Etymology 2[edit]
| For pronunciation and definitions of つとめて – see the following entry. | ||
| ||
| (This term, つとめて, is the hiragana spelling of the above term.) |
References[edit]
- ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 “つとめ‐て”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”)
[1] (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000, released online 2007, →ISBN, concise edition entry available here (Note: Dialectal meanings, etymological theories, pronunciation including modern, dialectal, and historical information, Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai, historical dictionaries containing this word, and the kanji spellings in those dictionaries have been omitted.)
- ^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- ^ “つとめて”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen][2] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
