Friday, January 4, 2013

Kiritsubo, 1.2

Happy new year to everyone!  Time to finally move on to the second sentence.

I will once again post the scan of the original text -- I'm amused by Hagiwara's choice of ore koso as a gloss for ware wa; I guess ore was not as strongly male in his time as it is now?

Translation: "Those who from the beginning had pridefully thought 'I [will get the Emperor's love]' looked scornfully down on her as an outrageous creature. The Intimates at the same level, as well as those of lower rank, were even more uneasy."

Only one headnote this time.

はじめより:
 「もとより」といはんがごとし

Tama no ogushi (1796): This is the same as moto yori.

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This is sort of a confused note because Hagiwara chopped off the first part of it.  The Kogetsusho says this passage means "people who entered service before the Kiritsubo Intimate", although I'm not sure that was actually intended as a definition of hajime yori.  In any case, Tama is responding to that note and saying that hajime just means moto here.


Now moving on to the 語釈 section:

しき、しく

 これは物の有様をたとへていふ辞にて、繁(シク)の意なり。繁きことを古言には「しく」といへり。たとへば、「恋しく」は恋の繁き意、うらめしくは恨の繁き意なり。他もこれになずらへて知るべし。かやうの辞をすべて形容辞(ありさまことば)といふ。

[The suffix shiki] indicates a metaphor for some condition, corresponding to the character 繁.  In older Japanese, the word for profuse/lush was shiku . For instance, koishiki means that love (koi) is profuse (shiki). urameshiku means that resentment (urami) is profuse. All such words are adjectives.

めざましき

 このことば、巻々に数知らず多かるを、思ひわたして考ふるに、さは有るまじき事を、と思ひて憤れる意の言葉なり。

Tama no ogushi (1796): This word shows up many times throughout the Tale. Looking at all these instances, we can see that it refers to being upset at a situation that people think should not exist.

 「めざまし」は古は「目すさまじき」意なり。中頃より転じて、目の醒めたるといふ意にて、善悪ともに使ふなり。源平盛衰記七、「目醒(メザマシ)」とあり。見て驚くばかりのことなるべし。

Genchu yoteki (1830): Originally, this word meant "amazing to the eyes," and then it came to mean "eye-opening." This could be used for either good or bad things. In the seventh volume of the Genpei Jōsuiki, 目醒 appears read as mezamashi, and it means look on with surprise.

 アキレル イカガシイ シングワイナ

akireru (飽きれる)、ikagashii (いかがしい)、shingai na (心外な)

おとしめ

 我を高くして、人を貶(おと)しむるをいふ。「め」はすべて「令」の字の意にて、我より彼に及ぶ意の辞なり。

This means to value yourself highly and look down on others. The me syllable is always 令, and indicates that this is extending to others more than oneself.

5 comments:

  1. Happy new year!

    I guess ore was not as strongly male in his time as it is now?

    Yeah, it didn't become inappropriate for women until sometime in the second half of the Edo period IIRC. (But I also find it amusing when I see it in cases like this.)

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  2. Happy new year!

    "「め」はすべて「令」の字の意にて": Does that mean that the "me" comes from (what we will now call) a causative formation (sime- for which the kanji 令 always exists) and so indicates an action that passes from oneself to another guy?

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    Replies
    1. I guess so; I don't know if Hagiwara's theory there is sound, but I think that's what he's saying.

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  3. cf. "不欲令追者出" "追者をして出でしめんことを欲せず" http://mokusai-web.com/shushigakukihonsho/shunjuu/shunjuu_24_shoukou5_main.html

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  4. Ah he entendido! He etymologized おとしむ to おとさしむ, so to "make oneself high and make others fall".

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