Talk:硬い

Etymology

@LittleWhole, I just reverted your etymology addition. I can't find any source backing up your claim that this is related to OJP subsidiary verb かつ (katsu, “to be able to do [PRECEDING VERB]”), and the semantics don't make a lot of sense either (katsu "to be able to do" → katai "to be difficult to do").

Do you have any sources explaining this purported derivation? ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │^{Tala við mig} 19:33, 8 November 2021 (UTC)

@Eirikr: Seems to be an early morning partial misreading by me solely on the etymology of 難(か)て (kate) being from かつ (katsu); it seems かたい (katai) is of separate derivation from 難(か)て (kate) but was somehow later confused together and reanalyzed as related. The initial form 難(か)てに (kateni) was confused with the stem of 難(かた)し (katashi), causing the に (ni) to be reanalyzed as non-essential case particle instead of negative.

［連語］《補助動詞「かつ」（下二）の未然形＋打消しの助動詞「ず」の連用形古形「に」。上代語》…に耐えられずに。…することができなくて。

［連語］《「かてに」の濁音化。のちに「難 (がた) し」の語幹と混同され、それに格助詞「に」の付いたものと意識されるようになったもの》動詞に付いて、できないで、困難で、の意を表す。

— LittleWhole (talk) 03:46, 10 November 2021 (UTC)

@LittleWhole, thank you for that background. The historical development and later confusion / conflation between kateni and katai might merit mention. Cheers! ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │^{Tala við mig} 17:14, 10 November 2021 (UTC)