婚文

Japanese

Compound of 夜這い (yobai, “courtship; marriage proposal”) +‎ 文 (fumi, “a letter, an epistle”).^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] The fumi changes to bumi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

First cited to the Utsubo Monogatari of the late 900s.^[1]^[2]

Appears to be falling out of use, as no pitch-accent information is included for this term in various Japanese dictionaries.^[1]^[4]^[5]^[6]

婚(よばい)文(ぶみ) • (yobaibumi) ^{←よばひぶみ (yobafibumi)^?}

[late 900s–???] (historical, archaic) a letter proposing marriage, a written marriage proposal
[late 900s–???] (historical, archaic) a love letter
Synonyms: 恋文 (koibumi), 懸想文 (kesōbumi), 艶書 (ensho)

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 “よばい‐ぶみ［よばひ‥］【婚文】”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2000-2002, released online 2007, →ISBN, concise edition entry available here
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Shinmura, Izuru, editor (1998), 広辞苑 [Kōjien] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN
^ “婚ひ文”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen]‎^[2] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ 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), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
^ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN