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”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) まがたま [màgátámá] (Heiban – [0])
• 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

• やさかにのまがたま (yasakani no magatama): one of the three imperial regalia of Japan