James Curtis Hepburn

“ The Chinese written language, without affecting at all the grammatical structure of the native language, has been a vast treasury from which to draw and enrich it with words in every branch of knowledge. Perhaps the great advantage of having such materials at hand from which to form new combinations was never more apparent than at the present time, when the study of western science and institutions, necessitating a new and copious nomenclature and technology, has been entered upon with such avidity. The Chinese ideographs have been found equal to the need. ”

“ Aston for the attempt to throw some light upon the linguistic affinities of the mysterious Japanese language, professed himself unconvinced that a relation had been shown between it and the languages of the Aryan family. The fact of apparently identical roots existing in different languages was not sufficient to prove a close connexion. Probably all the languages in the world could be shown on examination to have some common roots. If this proved anything it would only be that all the nations of the earth were parts of one great family. ”

“ But it went no further than to show that possibly all languages have begun with a common vocabulary, all languages have some common features, as all men have the organs common to the human family. The question is how far, and at what period, such have diverged from the common type, so as to form an essentially distinct family. ”

“ But owing to the amazing changes and rapid advancement of the Japanese in every department, he has found it difficult to keep pace with the corresponding advance of the language in the increase of its vocabulary. He has endeavored, however, to collect these words, examine, classify and define them. Many, no doubt, have escaped his notice. Still there is an addition of more than ten thousand words to the Japanese and English part. ”

“ Brown believed that the comparison of Japanese with the Aryan languages, instead of showing meagre results, would prove a rich field of philological research, especially the comparison of Japanese and Greek. With the Burmese language Japanese has very strong affinities, not only in its vocabulary but in its grammatical structure. ”

“ There are no Relative pronouns in the Japanese, the person or thing being always put in direct subjection to the verb, which acts as an attributive adjective, as:
Hon wo yomu hito, the man who reads books. Hon wo yonda hito, the man who has read books. Hito no yomu hon, the book which men read. Hito ni yomareru hon, a book which is read (or can be read) by men. Hito ni yomareta hon, a book which has been read by men. Tokoro, place, is often used as a relative pronoun, as: oya no ai-suru tokoro no ko, the child which the parent loves. ”

“ Only the highest style and smallest part of Japanese literature is written in pure Chinese. The largest part, and that intended for the general reader, is written in a mixture of Chinese and Japanese Kana, called Kana-majiri, in wbich a large proportion of words, the agglutinating particles, and grammatical structure, are purely Japanese. Below this, there is yet a style of literature written in the Hira-kana, without any, or a very slight mixture of Chinese.
The Chinese spoken language has never been current in Japan. ”

“ He did not agree with the objection made to this paper that the only true way to study the affinities of language was to begin with the grammatical construction. It was a much readier and surer way to begin with the comparison of vocables. ”

“ In a matter of so much difficulty, without inquiring of a learned man you cannot know it. Mi-nakute mita furi wo suru. To make believe he had seen when he had not. Ashita Tōkyō ye yondokoro nai yō ga atte yukanakute wa naranu. I must go to Tōkyō to-morrow, as I have important business. Kikanai to shirenai. If you don't inquire you can't know. Uma ni noraneba hayaku yukarenai. If you don't go on horseback you cannot get there soon. Hito wa hon wo yomanedomo umaretsuite ri wo yoku shiru. Although a man does not read books he instinctively knows what is right. ”

“ Besides the above mentioned, many other differences exist; but one conversant with the Tōkyō dialect will have no difficulty in being understood in any part of the country, amongst the educated classes.
Accent. The accent in Japanese words is made by a slight elevation of the tone upon the accented syllable; as a general rule, in words of two syllables it falls on the first; in words of three syllables on the penult; and in words of four syllables on the anti-penult. But the accent always falls upon the syllable that has a double or prolonged vowel sound ”

“ The climate of the Japan Islands generally is much influenced by their position, being on the edge of, and even within, the great ocean current called Kuro-shiwo, which flows from the equatorial regions in a northerly and easterly direction. ”

“ With all his care and effort the author finds typographical errors have passed here and there undetected, especially among the Chinese characters. They are not many, however, and he comforts himself with the reflection that it is not human to be perfect, nor to produce a work in which a critical eye can detect no flaw. ”

“ Aston gives them, h or f for the Sanskrit p, ph and b, and k for the Sanskrit h. The Sanskrit ti is naturally softened to tci or chi, the sibilant being intercalated for ease or euphony, as it is also, not unfrequently, in the Western languages. In philological inquiries similarity of sound is not alone a proof of radical identity ”

“ Sometimes the consonant of the first syllable and the vowel of the second form a single syllable, the vowel of the first and the consonant of the second being elided. This is especially the case in writing the sounds of Chinese words; as, chi-ya becomes cha; shiya, sha; chiyo, cho; shiyo, sho; jiyo, jo; kuwo, kō; chi-ya-u becomes chō; shiyau, shō; shi-yo-u, shō. Sometimes an entirely new sound is produced; as, te-u becomes chō; he-u, hyō; de-fu, jō; se-fu, shō. ”

“ The ice seldom exceeds one inch or an inch and a half in thickness. Fogs are rarely noticed, so also is hail. Thunder storms are neither frequent nor severe. Earthquake shocks are frequent, averaging more than one a month ”

“ Ō, a contraction of ōkii, great, big, is prefixed to nouns as an amplifying particle; as ō-yama, a big mountain; ō-kaze, a high wind; ō-bune, a large ship; ō-nami, high waves; ō-ame, a heavy rain; ō-ishi, a large stone.
Nouns expressing abstract qualities are formed by suffixing the particle sa to the root of the adjective; as, shiro-sa, the whiteness; kuro-sa, the blackness; taka-sa, the height; omo-sa, the weight; kurushi-sa, the painfulness. ”

“ There is a class of adjectives formed from verbs by means of shiki, or shiku, to spread or cover over, which might be called verbal adjectives; as osoroshiki, contracted to osoroshii, fearful; yorokobashii, causing one to be full of joy, joyful; imawashii, causing disgust, odious; so also, kirawashii, kurushii, kuyashii, negawashii, koishii, netamashii, etc.
Those forms of the verb which end in u, ta, taru, or shi also perform the office of adjectives; as: Ie ni sumu hito, (lit., dwelling in the house man) the man who dwells in the house ”

“ He would also feel obliged if Mr. Aston would inform them whether the word “riyo”, a yen, pronounced in Tokei “ro” and frequently “do,” and which was written in Japanese by the same characters as the word “riyo”, meaning “both”, had any connection with the root “do” and “du” meaning “two” which occurs in so many languages. Or was the Tokei word “do” simply short for dollar?
Mr. Aston. Japanese numerals have no connection with European.
Mr. Hall contrasted Mr. Aston’s admission that he could find no connection between the Japanese and Aryan numerals, with Mr. ”

“ Don't cry so much: you are a trouble-some child. li mono yaru kara naku na yo. Don't cry and I will give you something nice. Ambai warui nara muri ni okiru na. If you are not feeling well don't try to get up. ”

“ Advancing age admonishes him that this must be his last contribution to lexicography. He has done his best under the circumstances. He has laid the foundation upon which others may build a more complete and finished structure ”

“ Anything fried in oil or grease, especially fried tôfu. Aburagiri アブラギリ n. The Elaococcus verrucosus*. Aburahi アブラヒ n. An oil light. Aburajimi アブラジミ n. A grease spot; stained with grease. Aburakami アブラカミ n. Oil-paper; i.q., tō-yugami. Aburakashi,-su アブラカス t.v. To cause another to lose an engagement. Aburakasu アブラカス n. Oil-cake (the refuse after the oil is pressed out) . Aburakawa アブラカハ n. A membrane. Aburake アブラケ n. Oily, fatty, greasy: — ga nai. Aburami アブラミ n. The fat, or fatty part, as of flesh. Aburamushi アブラムシ n. The cockroach; (met.) a troublesome person, a bore. ”

“ For Descriptive or classifying numerals, a large number of words are employed, the principal of which are:—
Ken for houses; Chō for wagons, ink, candles, tools. Sō, ships; Hon, pens, pencils, pillars, posts, bottles, etc. Mai, sheets of paper, notes, quilts. Tsuji, threads, ropes, roads, rivers. Satsu, books, volumes. Jō, mats, quires of 20 sheets of paper. Hiki, animals, fish. Wa, birds, fowls, bundles of wood. Soku, pair of shoes, clogs, socks. ”

“ Budd. stand for„ Buddhist. caust. stand for„ causative form of the verb. chr. stand for„ christianity. coll. stand for„ colloquial. conj. stand for„ conjunction. dub. stand for„ future or dubitative form of the verb. Eng. stand for„ English. exclam. stand for„ exclamation or interjection. fut. stand for„ future tense. gram. stand for„ grammatical. Heb. stand for„ Hebrew. id. stand for„ the same. i.e. stand for„ (id est) that is. imp. stand for„ imperative mood. i.q. stand for„ (idem quod) same as. i.v. stand for„ intransitive verb. leg. stand for„ legal. lit. stand for„ literally. ”

“ To this class belong the verbs whose root form end in i does not change when it takes the suffixes, and which make the adjective form by adding ru to the root, and form the Imperative by affixing the syllable yo. In these respects they are conjugated like verbs of the second conjugation. Page:和英英和語林集成.pdf/33 Page:和英英和語林集成.pdf/34 Page:和英英和語林集成.pdf/35
Kowareta mono wo yakamashiku itte mo naora-nai. Scolding won't mend a thing that has been broken. Kō shite mo ii to ittakara kō suru. I do so because you said it was better to do it so. Mita ga dō suru? ”

“ Vainly, uselessly; unprofitably: issen no ada-zeni mo tsukawazu, not spending one penny uselessly. Syn. itazura, muda, munashiki. Ada アダ 婀娜, — na, or — naru. adj. Charming; lovely: — naru sugata, a charming figure. Ada アダ 仇 An enemy, adversary, foe; harm, injury: — suru, to oppose; to be hostile, inimical; to do harm ”