Kaminazuki

[Hanna McGaughey]

Dear all,

Since we are now in this month, I find the following question might be fitting. I'm currently working through the noh "Furu," which cites poem 997 in the Kokin wakashū:

神無月時雨降りおける楢の葉の名におふ宮の古言ぞこれ
Kaminazuki/ shigure furi okeru/ nara no ha no / na ni ou miya no / furukoto zo kore

I was familiar with understanding Kaminazuki as the month without gods because they've all assembled in Izumo, but I stumbled across an etymology in the 国語大辞典, which says,

「な」は「の」の意で、『神の月』すなわち、神祭りの月の意か。俗説には、全国の神々が出雲大社に集まって、諸国が「神無しになる月」だからという。

So the name originally meant the month of the gods? Most of the examples in the 国語大辞典, however, are rather poetic and demonstrate the collocation of kaminazuki with drizzling rain. They don't help in understanding when or where it meant the one thing or its opposite. Can anyone tell me more? When did the shift happen? Was it understood differently in different locations or by different groups of people?

I look forward to hearing any leads!

Warmly,

Hanna

Dr. Hanna McGaughey

Assistant Professor of Japanese Studies

Asian Studies

Bates College

hmcga...@bates.edu

(she/they)

[Ivan Rumánek]

Dear Hanna,

　　　I think the dictionary would have definitely stated particular examples of the semantic shift if it was known. The Japanese scholars tend to be extremely careful about this. Since they don´t state that, it most probably means that it is just not known, so we have to remain in the charming uncertainty of not knowing, and steer between the both interpretations.

Kind regards,

Ivan Rumánek

Japanese Studies,

Masaryk University

Brno (Moravia), Czechia. 

st 11. 10. 2023 o 20:48 Hanna McGaughey <hmcga...@bates.edu> napísal(a):

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[John Kupchik]

Dear Hanna,

This is attested in the Man'yōshū a few times (e.g., poem 1590), but it is only written as 十月. In 時代別国語大辞典・上代編 it is read as kamunadukï, with a note that it might have been read as kamïnadukï instead. The orthographic form 神無月 did not emerge until the Heian period, so it is considered to be a partial ateji and a folk etymology. This was probably due to the obsolete nature of -na in the Heian period and the concomitant difficulty Heian-period speakers had as analyzing it as anything but the verb na- 'not exist'. If this word really contained na- 'not exist' we would expect it to be read as kamïnakitukï in Old Japanese, since the attributive/adnominal suffix -ki would be required. The inherent opposing perspectives on the event that occurred in the tenth month probably also contributed to this folk etymology; all deities are absent in most of the land, and yet all are present in one place. It brings to mind the proverbial phrase "Is the glass half empty or half full?"

The -na is traditionally thought to have been an archaic genitive marker, but Alexander Vovin considered it to be an archaic plural marker (see his Western Old Japanese Grammar from 2005, pp. 102-107). It works better as a plural marker in this phrase (and many others), due to the voicing (rendaku) of the first consonant of tukï 'moon' to -dukï, which normally develops from the loss of a vowel after a genitive or locative suffix. Thus, a genitive suffix followed the plural -na in this word, and after it lost its vowel it was reduced to the voicing of the first consonant of the following word. So, the original form was likely *kamï/kamu-na-nö tukï 'deity-PLUR-GEN month', meaning 'month of the deities'. This is semantically coherent considering multiple deities would gather at Izumo Grand Shrine.

A similar example can be found in Man'yōshū poem 813 (line 23): kamunagara '(with) the nature of deities' (< *kamu-na-nö kara 'deity-PLUR-GEN nature').

Best wishes,

John Kupchik

https://independent.academia.edu/JohnKupchik

[Michael Pye]

Dear Colleagues
But no justification is given for the assertion that the
「な」は「の」の意で... i.e. that 無 = の. I find that puzzling. Are there
really any grounds for thinking it means the month OF the gods? And
even if it did/does, it could still imply the month when they are in
Izumo.
Let's not debunk that lovely idea....
Michael Pye

Zitat von "'Ivan Rumánek' via PMJS: Listserv" <pm...@googlegroups.com>:

> Dear Hanna,
>
> I think the dictionary would have definitely stated particular examples of
> the semantic shift if it was known. The Japanese scholars tend to be
> extremely careful about this. Since they don´t state that, it most probably
> means that it is just not known, so we have to remain in the charming
> uncertainty of not knowing, and steer between the both interpretations.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Ivan Rumánek
> Japanese Studies,
> Masaryk University
> Brno (Moravia), Czechia.
>
> st 11. 10. 2023 o 20:48 Hanna McGaughey <hmcga...@bates.edu> napísal(a):
>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> Since we are now in this month, I find the following question might be
>> fitting. I'm currently working through the noh "Furu," which cites poem 997

>> in the *Kokin wakashū*:

>>
>> 神無月時雨降りおける楢の葉の名におふ宮の古言ぞこれ
>> Kaminazuki/ shigure furi okeru/ nara no ha no / na ni ou miya no /
>> furukoto zo kore
>>
>> I was familiar with understanding Kaminazuki as the month without gods
>> because they've all assembled in Izumo, but I stumbled across an etymology
>> in the 国語大辞典, which says,
>>
>> 「な」は「の」の意で、『神の月』すなわち、神祭りの月の意か。俗説には、全国の神々が出雲大社に集まって、諸国が「神無しになる月」だからという。
>>
>> So the name originally meant the month of the gods? Most of the examples
>> in the 国語大辞典, however, are rather poetic and demonstrate the collocation of

>> *kaminazuki* with drizzling rain. They don't help in understanding when

>> or where it meant the one thing or its opposite. Can anyone tell me more?
>> When did the shift happen? Was it understood differently in different
>> locations or by different groups of people?
>>
>> I look forward to hearing any leads!
>>
>> Warmly,
>>
>> Hanna
>>
>> Dr. Hanna McGaughey
>> Assistant Professor of Japanese Studies
>> Asian Studies
>> Bates College
>>
>> hmcga...@bates.edu
>>
>> (she/they)
>>
>> --
>> PMJS is a forum dedicated to the study of premodern Japan.
>> To post to the list, email pm...@googlegroups.com
>> For the PMJS Terms of Use and more resources, please visit www.pmjs.org.
>> Contact the moderation team at mod...@pmjs.org
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>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
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>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAHt1XSoFCfxvSZ_e1KgsTuBOoftnS6J%3DSSmnB8W28seT8zP3Gw%40mail.gmail.com

>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pmjs/CAHt1XSoFCfxvSZ_e1KgsTuBOoftnS6J%3DSSmnB8W28seT8zP3Gw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
>> .

>>
>
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.................................................................................................................
Professor of the Study of Religions (em.), University of Marburg, Germany

[S. Tsumura]

I am writing about the calendar, so have looked briefly at this question.

As far as when the meaning changed: According to Okada Yoshiro, Nihon no Kiyomi,p.44, the early Kamakura Yakumo Misho 八雲御抄 says “十月　かみなづき　出雲国には鎮祭月といふ” so the idea that the gods were in Izumo at this time was known by then.

By the way, there is also a question as to whether the sixth month Minazuki 水無月, which overlaps with July, means month without water, or month in which you have to water the rice.

Susan Tsumura

On Oct 12, 2023, at 10:14, John Kupchik <johnk...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[John Kupchik]

On 12/10/23 4:25 pm, S. Tsumura wrote:

By the way, there is also a question as to whether the sixth month Minazuki 水無月, which overlaps with July, means month without water, or month in which you have to water the rice.

Susan Tsumura

This is a very similar case. From a linguistic perspective its meaning should be 'month of water'. Also note it is only written as 六月 in the Nara period; the form 水無月 developed in writing some time after this period. Both points were made in 時代別国語大辞典・上代編, page 713.

There are competing hypotheses on the etymology of mina: one is that it consists of mi-na 'water-GEN' (the traditional Japanese hypothesis), another is that it is mi-na 'water-PLUR' (Vovin's old hypothesis), and the most recent is that it is mi-na 'HON-water' (Vovin's later hypothesis). In any case there is a compressed genitive -nö after it, which caused the rendaku of tukï > dukï.

[izumi hasegawa]

Hi,

We call it Kannazuki not Kaminazuki.

But my hometown, Izumo, the lunar calendar, October is Kamiarizuki instead of rest of Japan calls it Kannazuki because it is said that 神様 deities in Japan gathers in Izumo. 

You can find the info in this website, I created to be hired by Shimane prefecture office when Kojiki’s 1300 years anniversary. 

Rev. Izumi Hasegawa

Shinto priestess 

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[Hanna McGaughey]

Dear all,

Thank you all for such insightful responses! 

John, thank you for your helpful explanation of orthography and the genitive vs. plural reading possibilities. That 神無月 didn't appear until the Heian period when な was already obsolete as a possessive was extremely helpful in considering the semantic shift.

Susan, thank you for establishing that by the Kamakura period, it was clearly understood as the month without the gods.

John, thank you for commenting on the similarities to 水無月, which allows another perspective divorced from the folklore.

Rev. Hasegawa, thank you for your beautiful perspective in Izumo, where of course the gods are this month. May they bring you good fortune now and spread that fortune out as they return to their homes next month!

I will go ahead with the standard translation "month without gods" for now, but feel so much richer for having considered all of your knowledge.

Warmly,

Hanna

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