ぐすく・ぐしく【城】 : gusuku · gushiku | define meaning

Cognate with Okinawan ぐすく gusuku and ぐしく gushiku "castle"; and Yaeyama (Kohama) ぐすく gusuku "stone wall". Origin debated.

Historical Ryukyuan attestations

• おもろさうし Omoro Saushi (1531-1623) records "くすく", "しよりもりくすく", "たまくすく", "なかくすく", "ちはなかなくすく" and "またまもりくすく", among other examples.
• 混効験集 Konkoukenshuu (1711), "Words of the Royal Palace", records "「みものくすく」　御物城", "「首里もりくすく」", "「またまもりくすく」　首里王城を云なり 神哥首里の／御さうし有之", and "「中城の美御前かなし」　御太子の御事".
• Mémoire sur les Isles que les Chinois appellent isles de Lieou-Kieou, par le Pere Gaubil missionnaire de la Compagnie de Jesus à Pekin (1758), by Antoine Gaubil, records "Olakousekou [= Aragusuku], ou Ville nouvelle, à l'Ouest de Pat-chong-chan [= Yaeyama]". 
• Archiv für asiatische Litteratur, Geschichte und Sprachkunde (1810), by Julius von Klaproth, records "Hauptstadt, Kussugu".
• Vocabulary of the language spoken at the Great Loo-Choo island in the Japan Sea (1818), by Herbert John Clifford, records "King's palace, Oogoós-coo" and "Castle, Eegoósecoo, or Gooseécoo".
• Essay in Aid of a Grammmar and Dictionary of the Luchuan Language (1895), by Basil Hall Chamberlain, records "Gusiku, 'A castle'".
• 沖縄語典 Okinawa goten (Okinawan language dictionary) (1896), by Masayo Nakamoto, records "「ぐすィく」城（シロ）ぐすィくトハ舜天王ノ御父爲朝ノ居ヲレシ所フ崇ヒテごしゆく（宿御）言ヒタリシヲ漢字沖繩ニ傳來シテ城ノ字ニ改メタリ".

Reconstructions

• Naokazu Hashio (2007) proposes a Sino-Korean origin, from 城 (< 忽) "castle" (compare and Koguryo 忽 *kuru~koro "castle", Baekje 己富里 *kopori "district", Middle Korean ᄀᆞ옳 kòwòlh "district", and Japanese 郡 kōri "district" and 城 ki "castle") and 塞 "fortress" (compare Modern Korean 새 sae and 색 saek).
• Atsushi Mamiya (2005) proposes き【城】 ki "castle, fortress" and そこ【壁・垣】 soko "wall".
• Nakamoto Masachie (1988) proposes ご【石】 go "stone" and しき【城郭】 shiki "castle, castle wall".
• Iha Fuyu (1974) proposes ご【御】 go- and そく【塞】 soku "fort, fortress" (variant: せく seku).
• Kenzaburō Torigoe (1968) proposes ご【御】 go- and しき【磯城】 shiki "castle, fortress".
• Basil Chamberlain (1895) states "Possibly it may be borrowed from the Chinese 御宿, lit. 'august lodging,' of which gu siku would be the regular Luchuan pronunciation".

Discussion

• Several authors have suggested that the initial syllable *gu- is unrelated to the Japanese honorific prefix ご【御】 go-, noting instead that historical Ryukyuan texts use the honorific prefixes *o- (u-), *omi- (umi-), *mi-, *om(u)- (um-) and *m(u)-.
• More recently, some authors have proposed that the initial *g- was originally *k- which became voiced through assimilation of a now-lost genitive particle, *N or *nV. Alternatively, the initial *g- could also be explained by an assimilated honorific prefix, *m-.
• Several authors have remarked on the absence of the first syllable in many Miyako and Yaeyama dialects, suggesting it may be a prefix.