三味線

三味線

1. shamisen

• 三弦 (sānxián)

Originally from Okinawan 蛇皮線 (jabisen, literally “snakeskin strings”), so named for the way the soundbox is traditionally covered in snakeskin. The traditional jabisen instrument was imported into the Sakai area of Osaka during the Eiroku era (1558-1570), then later modified by biwa luthiers to have the square-shaped shamisen soundbox of today.[1][2]

The reading jabisen shifted over time to jamisen (蛇味線), replacing the 皮 (bi, “skin, leather”) character with 味 (mi) for phonetic reasons (i.e. as ateji (当て字)). Then jamisen changed to shamisen, replacing the 蛇 (ja, “snake”) character with 三 (sha, usually read san, “three”) for semantic reasons (i.e. as jukujikun (熟字訓)). The sha reading for the 三 character is irregular.

• (Irregular reading)
  • (Tokyo) しゃみせん [shàmíséń] (Heiban – [0])[2][3][4]
  • IPA^(key): [ɕa̠mʲisẽ̞ɴ]

三味線 (hiragana しゃみせん, rōmaji shamisen)

1. (music) a shamisen: a Japanese stringed instrument played by plucking, vaguely similar to a banjo

• (traditional Okinawan snakeskin shamisen):: 蛇 (じゃ)皮 (び)線 (せん) (jabisen), 三 (さん)線 (しん) (sanshin)
• (shamisen in general): 三 (さん)絃 (げん) (sangen), 三 (さん)弦 (げん) (sangen), 三 (しゃ)味 (み) (shami), 三 (さ)味 (み) (sami), ぺんぺん (penpen)

Sound shift from shamisen above, possibly influenced by the standard san reading of the initial 三 character.

This reading appears to be less common than shamisen.[1][2]

• On’yomi
  • (Tokyo) さみせん [sàmíséń] (Heiban – [0])[2][3]
  • IPA^(key): [sa̠mʲisẽ̞ɴ]

三味線 (hiragana さみせん, rōmaji samisen) (uncommon)

1. (music) a shamisen: a Japanese stringed instrument played by plucking, vaguely similar to a banjo