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🌏 Region(s): Ryukyu (Yoron: Mugiya)

がーじゃん

gaajan

Pronunciation: [ɡaːd͡ʑaŋ̍]

Definition

Noun

  1. Mosquito

Etymology

Cognate with Tanegashima and Tokara がじゃぶ gajabu "(small) black fly"; Kikai and Amami がじゃみ gajami; Kikai がじゃまー gajamaa; Amami (Koniya) がじゃム gajam; Tokunoshima がじゃん gajan; Yoron がじゃん gajan; Yoron (Mugiya) がーじゃん gaajan; Okinoerabu がじゃむ gajamu; Kunigami (Kin) がじゃむ gajamu; Kunigami (Oku) がだみ gadami; Kunigami (Benoki) がらむ garamu; Okinawan がじゃん gajan; Miyako (Irabu, Yonaha) がざム gazam; Miyako (Ikema) かじゃん kajan; Miyako (Irabu) かざム kazam; Tarama がじゃム gajam; Yaeyama (Hateruma) がんざん ganzan; Yaeyama (Taketomi) かじゃん kajan; Yaeyama (Hatoma) がざん gazan; and Yonaguni かだんく kadanku "mosquito".

Historical attestations:

  • 沖縄語典 Okinawa goten (Okinawan language dictionary) (1896), by Masayo Nakamoto, records "「がぢやん」蚊(カ)".
  • In On the manners and customs of the Loochoans (1893), Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Volume 21, Basil Hall Chamberlain records "a 'mosquito' is gajang; a mosquito emphasised is gajanō'".

Reconstructions

  • Zachary Read (2024) gives *[k~g]azjamu for proto-Ryukyuan and reconstructs a compound of *[k~g]azi- "biting" and *amu "horsefly" for pre-proto-Ryukyuan (with Kyushu having *abu for the second morpheme). Compare Japanese がじがじ gajigaji "biting" and かじる【齧る】 kajiru "to bite".
  • Yosuke Igarashi (2016) reconstructs *kazamV for proto-Ryukyuan; while Igarashi (2017) reconstructs *kazja(-CV); and Igarashi (2018) gives *kazjamV (pattern C).

Discussion:

  • Phonologically similar to standard Japanese がざみ【蝤蛑】 gazami "Asian blue crab" and its variants かざみ kazami, がさみ gasami and がざめ gazame. Reflexes in Ryukyuan include Okinawan がじゃみ gajami and Yaeyama (Hatoma) がさみ gasami. It's possible this word influenced a *u > *i vowel shift in some Northern Ryukyuan varieties.
  • The topicalized form "gajanō" recorded by Chamberlain (1893) suggests a final *N rather than *M for Shuri Okinawan at the time.

Notes

The pronunciation [ɡad͡ʑaŋ̍] is used in Furusato, Nama, Asato and Gusuku, while the pronunciation [ɡaʑaŋ̍] is used in Chabana and Ritcho. In Mugiya, the pronunciation [ɡaːd͡ʑaŋ̍] is used.

Spelling

OrthographyForm
Kanaがーじゃん
Romanizationgaajan
Pronunciation (IPA)[ɡaːd͡ʑaŋ̍]

意味:か【蚊】

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がーじゃん
Cite this entry: Read, Zachary. (2024, May 11). がーじゃん : gaajan | define meaning. JLect: Japonic Languages and Dialects Database. Retrieved 2024, December 9, from https://www.jlect.com/entry/6158/gaajan/.