ゐきが【男】 : wikiga | define meaning

Cognate to Kikai (Shitooke) いぃんが yinga [jiŋ̍ŋa]; Amami (Koniya) and Okinoerabu いぃんが yinga [jiŋ̍ɡa]; Amami いぃんがー yingaa [jiŋɡaa]; Yoron をぅいが wuiga; Kunigami いぃきが yikiga [jikiɡa]; Okinawan (Takazato) うんが unga; Okinawan (Nago) いけが ikega; Okinawan (Shuri) ゐきが wikiga [(w)ikiɡa]; Okinawan (Kudaka) ゆきが yukiga; and Yonaguni びんが binga /biNɡa/ "man". Ultimately of bimorphemic origin, from Proto-Ryukyuan *weke and *ɡa.

Compare Miyako びきどぅﾑ bikidum /biki-dum/ and Yaeyama びきどぅむ bikidumu /biki-dumu/ "man". Compare also the related term *weke-ri "brother", which is いぃひり yihiri [jiçiri] in Amami (Koniya); ゐきー wikii in Okinawan; and びぎ bigi in Yonaguni.

Historical attestations include:

• おめけり omekeri "term used by women to refer to male siblings", まゑけか mawekeka (mawekega) "man" and ゑけか wekeka (wekega) "man" in the 混効験集 Konkoukenshuu (1711)
• ic'kkeega and ickkeega (ikiga) in the Vocabulary of the language spoken at the Great Loo-Choo Island, in the Japan Sea (1818), by Herbert John Clifford, with a note comparing it to oikyo "man" recorded for Hokkaido ("Insu Island") (cf. Ainu オㇰカヨ okkayo "man") in A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean (1804), by William Robert Broughton
• uyekega "man" in the Journal of the Society of Arts, Volume 29 (1881) (p. 604).

Origin uncertain. Some authors have compared it to Japanese おとこ【男】 otoko "man" and おと【弟】 oto (Humble) "younger brother", as well as Hachijo おのこご onokogo "man". Compare also おい【甥】 oi "nephew", and its variants おいっこ oikko and おいご oigo. However, phonological and syntactic differences exist.