うる

Japanese

For pronunciation and definitions of うる – see the following entries.

【売る】 [verb] [from 810] to sell something (to agree to transfer goods) [verb] [from 1591] to sell someone out, to betray [verb] [from 1913] to agitate, to incite

【得る】 [suffix] [from 759] to be able to, -able

(This term, うる (uru), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as うる, see Category:Japanese kanji read as うる.)

Yaeyama

Etymology 1

From Proto-Ryukyuan *uro (compare Northern Amami Ōshima うる (uru, “coral”), Okinawan うる (uru, “sand”), Miyako うる (uru, “red coral”), Yonaguni うる (uru, “lime”)).

Pronunciation

• (Taketomi) IPA^(key): [ùɾù]
• (Hateruma) IPA^(key): [úɾù]

Noun

うる (uru) 

1. (Taketomi) lime

   ウルヤウルイシュヤイティドゥヒクルン

   uruya uruishu yaitidu hikurun

   Limes are made from roasting rocks from the sea.

2. (Taketomi) mortar, plaster, stucco

   カーラヤーヌウルヌルン

   kārayānu uru nurun

   To paint roof tiles with plaster.

3. (Hateruma) reef
4. (Hateruma) rocks of a reef

Synonyms

• うーる (ūru, Ishigaki, Hatoma)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Japanese 虚 (uro, “a hollow place”).

Pronunciation

• (Taketomi) IPA^(key): [uɾu]

Noun

うる (uru) 

1. cave

   イッサヌバシュヌ、ヒナシシールバシュヤ、ウルデッタラ

   issa nu bashunu, hinashi shīru bashuya, urudettara

   When it's time to battle, the place to hide is in the cave.

References

• Maeara, Tōru (2011) 竹富方言辞典 [Taketomi Dialect Dictionary], Ishigaki: Nanzansha, page 265
• “うる”, in 日本の危機言語‎^[1] (in Japanese), National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, 2022