下駄
Japanese
[edit]Kanji in this term | |
---|---|
下 | 駄 |
げ Grade: 1 |
た Grade: S |
on'yomi |
Etymology
[edit]A surface analysis suggests a Japanese coinage of Middle Chinese-derived components, as a compound of 下 (ge, “lower; under”) + 駄 (ta, “loading; carrying; footwear”).
Historical usage suggests a shift from older term 足駄 (ashida, “clogs”, later, referring more specifically to “tall clogs” in contrast to the “short clogs” referenced by the term geta), itself deriving from 足 (ashi, “foot”) + 板 (ita, “board”)[1][2][3] from the even older practice of wearing flat pieces of wood on one's feet when working in the paddies to keep from sinking into the mud, similar in principle to snowshoes. This latter footwear persisted in use into the 20th century as 田下駄 (ta-geta, literally “paddy geta”).
The historical derivation indicates that the 駄 character's “footwear” sense, which is specific to Japanese and is not found in Chinese sources, could have arisen from phonetic ateji (当て字) usage in the terms ashida and geta.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]- geta: a kind of wooden clog with at least one, more commonly two, stilts or “teeth”
- the geta symbol, 〓 (Unicode value 3013): a typographic mark indicating unavailability of a glyph, such as when a character cannot be displayed on a computer; so called for the similarity to a geta clog footprint
- (go) a stone placed not adjacent to the opponent's stone, but in such a way as to block the opponent's formation from escaping
Derived terms
[edit]- 日和下駄 (hiyori geta): low geta clogs for sunny weather
- 塗り下駄 (nuri geta): lacquered geta clogs
- 下駄記号 (geta kigō): the geta symbol, 〓 (Unicode value 3013)
Descendants
[edit]See also
[edit]- 鼻緒 (hanao): the thong that passes between the first and second toes of the wearer
- 歯 (ha): the stilts or “teeth” that raise the 台 (dai) or footbed off the ground
- 台 (dai): the footbed of a geta clog
- 足袋 (tabi): traditional socks with a split between the first and second toes to allow for the 鼻緒 (hanao) or thong
- 足駄 (ashida) dated or Kansai alternative for geta
- 木履 (bokuri): dated alternative for geta, literally “wooden footwear”
- 草履 (zōri): traditional straw sandals without a heel strap, similar to flip-flops
- 草鞋 (waraji): traditional straw sandals with a heel strap
References
[edit]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- ^ “下駄”, in 日本大百科全書:ニッポニカ (Nippon Dai Hyakka Zensho: Nipponica, “Encyclopedia Nipponica”)[1] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 1984
- ^ “下駄”, in ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 小項目事典 (Buritanika Kokusai Dai Hyakka Jiten: Shō Kōmoku Jiten, “Encyclopædia Britannica International: Micropædia”)[2] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Britannica Japan Co., Ltd., 2014
Further reading
[edit]- Etymology at Gogen-Allguide (in Japanese)
- Japanese terms spelled with 下 read as げ
- Japanese terms spelled with 駄 read as た
- Japanese terms read with on'yomi
- Japanese terms derived from Middle Chinese
- Japanese compound terms
- Japanese terms spelled with ateji
- Japanese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Japanese lemmas
- Japanese nouns
- Japanese terms spelled with first grade kanji
- Japanese terms spelled with secondary school kanji
- Japanese terms with 2 kanji
- ja:Go
- ja:Footwear