Kanazawa Shōzaburō
Was the "na" of "namida" (tears) once the word for eye? Is the "shi" of "higashi" and "nishi" the word for wind? A scholar who explored Japanese etymology by seeing action words as born from names of things, and argued a kinship with Korean. Reading Kokugo no kenkyu (1910) in the original.
Reading Kanazawa Shōzaburō — The Man Who Sought Old Japanese in Ear, Eye, Nose, and Mouth, and Argued for a Japanese–Korean Link
"Tachi" (sword) from "tatsu" (to cut), "kumoru" (to cloud over) from "kumo" (cloud). Is the "na" of "namida" (tear) an old word for "eye"? Where did the names of east, west, south, and north come from? Kanazawa Shōzaburō (1872–1967) explored how familiar words were made by setting them beside Korean, Sanskrit, and Ainu. He was also a man who placed that comparison inside a political age. Reading Kokugo no kenkyū (1910).
From "Kumo" to "Kumoru," From "Te" to "Toru" — Names of Things, Names of Actions
Add "-ru" to "kumo" (cloud) and you get "kumoru" (to cloud over). Because it's done with the "te" (hand), it's "toru" (to take). Japanese has abundant ways of making names of actions from names of things, and names of things from names of actions. The examples Kanazawa Shōzaburō gives at the opening of "Jimoku-bikō."
Is the "Na" of "Namida" an Old Word for the Eye? — Its Link With "Naku"
"Namida" (tear) has long been said to be a contraction of "naki mizu-dari" (weeping, water dripping). Setting it beside the Korean word joining "eye" and "water," Kanazawa Shōzaburō thought that "na" may be an old word for "eye." "Naku" (to weep), too, is said to have grown from that "na."
Where Did the Names East, West, South, and North Come From? — The Sun, the Wind, and the Movement of Peoples
The theory that the "shi" of "higashi" (east) and "nishi" (west) is the old word for wind. South and north from the movement of the sun. And in Indo-European languages, east is "front" and south is "right." Kanazawa Shōzaburō sorted the origins of direction names by three clues.
Close Reading — "Weep, Smell, Speak, Hear" — Old Words for Eye, Nose, Mouth, and Ear Left in Verbs
Japanese has the words "me," "hana," "kuchi," and "mimi." Even so, Kanazawa Shōzaburō thought their old forms survived in Korean, and in Japanese remained inside the verbs "naku," "kagu," "iu," and "kiku." Reading the course of the "Jimoku-bikō" argument in the original.
Close Reading — "Korean as a Dialect of Our Empire" — What Kanazawa Shōzaburō Wrote in the Year of Annexation
1910, the year Japan annexed Korea. Kanazawa Shōzaburō included in Kokugo no kenkyū a piece titled "Chōsen ni okeru kokugo mondai." While urging caution against those hurrying to spread Japanese, it places Korean as "a dialect of the empire." Without praise or condemnation, we check in the original what was written at the time.
Legacy and Verdict — The Way of Seeing Word-Making Survived; the Proof of "Kinship" Did Not
The idea that action words are born from names of things is still basic to how Japanese word-formation is understood. The theory that the "shi" of east and west is wind is still introduced. The ear-eye-nose-mouth correspondences and the Japanese–Korean kinship theory, on the other hand, never became proven theories, and were used in the political arena too. We grade Kanazawa Shōzaburō's work in separate parts.