けらば

Japanese
Alternative spellings
螻羽 (rare)
螻蛄羽 (rare)

Etymology

Compound of 螻蛄 (kera, “mole cricket”) +‎ 羽 (ha, “wing”),[1][2] possibly from a similarity between the wings of certain mole crickets and the way the eaves on a gabled roof come together at the peak of the gable, possibly also from a resemblance between the veins of the wing and the beams of a gable roof. The ha changes to ba as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

First cited to the 色葉字類抄 (Iroha Jiruishō) edition dated to 1177–81.

Pronunciation
  • (Tokyo) けらば [kèrábá] (Heiban – [0])[3]
  • IPA(key): [ke̞ɾa̠ba̠]

Noun

けらば or ケラバ • (keraba) ←けらば (keraba)?

  1. [from circa 1181] (architecture) the eaves of a gable roof above the triangular gable wall: the verge
    Synonyms: 桁端 (keta hashi, literally “beam edge”), 傍軒 (sobanoki, literally “side eaves”), (eaves in general) 軒端 (nokiba, literally “eaves edge”)

Usage notes

The kana spellings けらば or ケラバ appear to be more common than the kanji spellings 螻羽 or 螻蛄羽, likely due to the rarity and complexity of the kanji used to spell the けら (kera) portion.

Coordinate terms
  • 切(きり)妻(づま)屋(や)根(ね) (kirizuma yane, “gable roof”)
  • 妻(つま)側(がわ) (tsumagawa, “gable side”)

Derived terms

References
  1. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  3. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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