🌏 Region(s): Honshu (Standard)
さや【鞘】 : saya | define meaning
saya
Pronunciation: /saja/
Definition
Noun
- Scabbard; sheath
- さやをはらう【鞘を払う】
saya o harau
"to draw a sword [from its scabbard]", "to unsheathe a sword" - ゆみはふくろにたちはさや【弓は袋に太刀は鞘】
yumi wa fukuro ni tachi wa saya
"bows [returned] to their bags and swords, to their sheaths" (an expression about peace)
- さやをはらう【鞘を払う】
- A protective cover for the tip of a pen or brush. Pen cap; brush cover.
- ふでのさや【筆の鞘】
fude no saya
"brush cover"
- ふでのさや【筆の鞘】
- (Finance) Difference between a cost or market price and a selling price. Margin; profit margin; commission.
- さやをとる【鞘を取る】
saya o toru
"to charge a commission", "to receive a commission"
- さやをとる【鞘を取る】
- (Rare) A protective cover used for storing a flute, especially a transverse flute (such as a Komabue). Flute cover; flute holster; flute pouch.
- (Archaism) Vagina
- (Obsolete, Edo period) The space between the outer and inner latticed walls of an Edo-era prison where prisoners were bathed and changed.
- (Obsolete) Eyelid
- めのさや【目鞘】
me no saya
"eyelid" - めのさやをはずす【目の鞘を外す】
me no saya o hazusu
"To keep one's eyes peeled", "Look carefully", "Be on guard"
- めのさや【目鞘】
Etymology
Cognate with Tokunoshima (Asama) せィー sïï; Okinawan (Ie) すぃー sii; Okinawan (Nakijin, Shuri) and Yaeyama (Hatoma) しー shii; Miyako (Minna) せー see; Miyako (Tarama) しぇー shee; Okinawan, Miyako (Ikema, Minna) and Yonaguni さや saya; and standard Japanese さや【鞘】 saya "scabbard, sheath". Also cognate with standard Japanese さや【莢】 saya "(bean) pod".
Reconstructions:
- Zachary Read (2024) reconstructs *saja "scabbard, sheath" for Proto-Japonic.
- Yosuke Igarashi (2022) reconstructs *saja 2.4b "sheath" for Proto-Ryukyuan.
Historical attestations:
- 万葉集 Man'yōshū (759) [MYS.4.685], [MYS.7.1272] and [MYS.13.3240] record 鞘 saya, glossed as "scabbard".
- Dictionarivm latino lvsitanicvm, ac Iaponicvm (1595) records "Bainha da espada, &c. Iap. Saya" as well as "Vagina. x. Lus. Bainha. Iap. Saya".
- Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam (1603), aka Nippo Jisho (日葡辞書), records several instances of -zaya in compounds, including "Samezaya. Bainha cuberta de pelle de lixa", meaning "Sheath covered in dogfish shark skin".
- Vocabulary of the Japanese Language (1795), by Carl Peter Thunberg, records "Scabbard, saja".
- An English and Japanese and Japanese and English Vocabulary (1830), by Walter Henry Medhurst, records "Sheath, Saya, サヤ" and "サヤ, Saya, A sheath".
- A Japanese and English Dictionary: With an English and Japanese Index (1867), by James Curtis Hepburn, records "Saya. サヤ, 鞘, n. A sheath, case, scabbard, husk. Mame no —, a bean pod. Fude no —, the bamboo case which covers the end of a pencil, a pencil case."
意味：保護するためのもの、さや【鞘】、ふでのかさ【筆の笠】、キャップ、さい【差異・差違】、じょせいき【女性器】
鞘