kamuy

English

Alternative forms

• kamui

Etymology

From Ainu カムイ (kamuy).

Noun

kamuy (plural kamuy)

1. A spiritual or divine being in Ainu mythology, similar to the Japanese kami.

Translations

Divine being in Ainu mythology

• Ainu: カムイ (kamuy)
• Japanese: カムイ (ja) (kamui)

Ainu

Etymology

Likely related to Old Japanese 神 (kamu, “god”). The exact relationship between the two terms is unclear. Modern Japanese 神 (kami) also has an ancient compounding form kamu, with suggestions that modern standalone kami may have been the result of a monophthongization of an older kamui, borrowed into Ainu as kamuy.

John Batchelor, however, analyses kamuy as being made up of the root ka (“above”), which is then kamu (“to cover”) and finally, through the addition of nominalising particle y, kamuy (“he who covers or overshadows”). In this case, Japanese 神 (kami) could be, in fact, a borrowing from Ainu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kàꜛmúj]

Noun

kamuy (Kana spelling カムイ)

1. a god (deity)

   ape kamuy

   the fire god

2. (by extension from the god sense) a bear (large mammal of family Ursidae)

   Synonym: ciramamtep

Adjective

kamuy (Kana spelling カムイ)

1. an honorific-like title applied to anything great, important, or terrible, not necessarily implying divinity

   kamuy nonno

   a beautiful flower

   kamuy nispa

   a great lord

Derived terms

• kamuyhumbe (“orca”)
• kamuycep (“salmon”)
• kamuymosir (“heaven”)
• kimunkamuy (“bear”)
• wose-kamuy (“wolf”)
• rikunkamuy (“rabbit”)

References

John Batchelor (1905), An Ainu-English-Japanese dictionary (including a grammar of the Ainu language)‎^[1], Tokyo; London: Methodist Publishing House; Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner Co.