JapanKnowledge
Etymology Section
- Etymological derivations found in various sources are summarized in the Etymology (【語源説】;gogensetsu) Section, accompanied by the title of source provided in brackets 〔 〕.
- When two or more origins are given for a single word, they are given following numbered parentheses (1), (2), etc. In many cases the order of presentation is based on conceptual similarity rather than historical order or reliability.
- When several sources give similar etymologies for an item, such etymologies are summed up into a common denominator, with the source titles placed in parentheses 〔 〕 roughly in chronological order.
- Etymological summaries are presented in such a way as to retain the original contentions of the source texts as much as possible, but the following procedures are followed:
a) In referring to the origin of a word and in describing its sound changes, the word is rendered in katakana, with the corresponding kanji given in parentheses ( ). However, the original kana orthography is respected. b) Etymologies based on oral tradition, conjecture, etc. are indicated by expressions such as ‘to iu’ ( 
という; so legend goes) and ‘ka’ (か; presumably so). - Source titles are provided as fully as possible. For modern sources, authors’ names are given after the title, preceded by the symbol “=.”