いすくはし

Old Japanese

Etymology

From the ninth poem of the Kojiki (712 CE):

宇陀能多加紀爾志藝和那波留和賀麻都夜志藝波佐夜良受伊須久波斯久治良佐夜流...
Uda no₂ takaki₂ ni sigi₁wana paru waga matu ya sigi₁ pa sayarazu isukupasi kudira sayaru...
At Uda’s tall fortress, he had set up a trap for snipers. I can wait; the snipers will get caught. A whale, that is an edible one, gets caught...

The seventh poem of the Nihon Shoki also begins with Uda no₂ takaki₂ ni... and contains isukupasi, but the later verses are different and the ending is longer.

Adnominal

いすくはし (isukupasi)

  1. The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include:
    1. 勇細し: vigorous and fine in beauty, allusion to くぢら (kudira, “whale”)[1]
    2. 磯細し: beautiful as rocky shores, also an allusion to くぢら (kudira, “whale”)[1]
    3. 伊巣細し: beautiful as [emphatic particle] nest, allusion to くち (kuti, “hawk”) + 等 (-ra, pluralizing suffix), where the initial kuti is from a Baekje term for “hawk”[1]
    4. 很はし: beautifully (urupasi) and emotionally twisted up or pierced (isukasi), also an allusion to くち (kuti, “hawk”) + 等 (-ra, pluralizing suffix)[1]
    5. Vovin (2021c, 278-280) asserts that the initial isu- is related to Amis 'iso (“whale”), while -kupasi represents 食はし (kupasi, “edible”).

References
  1. “いすくはし”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”) ‎ (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000, released online 2007, →ISBN, concise edition entry available here (Note: Dialectal meanings, etymological theories, pronunciation including modern, dialectal, and historical information, Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai, historical dictionaries containing this word, and the kanji spellings in those dictionaries have been omitted.)
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