しかま : shikama | define meaning

Cognate with Okinawan (Shuri, Yomitan) しかま shikama; Miyako (Uruka) and Tarama ｽかま sɿkama; Minna すィかま sükama; Miyako (Ogami) [skama]; Yaeyama (Hateruma) しかま shikama and すかま sukama; Yonaguni しかま shikama "labor (to repay a debt)". Compare Okinawan しかま shikama "morning" and Okinawan しー【債】 shii "debt".

Reconstructions

• Zachary Read (2024) reconstructs *tukama for proto-Ryukyuan.
• Yosuke Igarashi (2016) reconstructs *sekama for proto-Ryukyuan for the sense of "morning".
• Kurayoshi Takara (1992), citing previous work by Nakamoto Masachie, proposes a connection to *sukama, a unit of time variously meaning "morning", "early morning", "noon", "all day" or "mid-afternoon" in different Ryukyuan varieties (trending towards morning in the north and noon-to-afternoon in the south). Takara argues that a semantic drift took place from the sense of a unit of time to a unit of labor.

Historical attestations

• In the Ryukyu official document 大宮古間切の下地大首里大屋子知行授与辞令書 (Appointment letter given to the chief landlord of Oshuri in Shimoji, Miyakojima) (1592), three occurrences of すかま sukama are recorded:
  • 七人のすかまくちたわら
  • 三すかまつゝ又しよりの大やこかまきりの
  • わくこなの一人か一すかまつゝ給候

Discussion:

• The Northern Ryukyuan and Miyako forms suggest that the initial syllable was historically *su-, while the Yaeyama and Yonaguni forms suggest that it was *tV- (compare how standard Japanese ちから【力】 chikara "strength" is すぃから [si̥kara] in Hatoma and しから shikara in Yonaguni; or how つかる【浸かる・漬かる】 tsukaru "to be pickled" is すかるん [su̥karuɴ] in Hateruma).
• A connection to the Japanese root *tsukam(as)- "grab; bribe" is unclear. Compare Kumamoto (Amakusa) つかましぇもん tsukamashemon "bribe", つかまする tsukamasuru "to bribe", つかまさるる tsukamasaruru "to make someone accept a bribe or buy inferior goods" and つかまゆる tsukamayuru "to catch, to hold".