大和

大和

1. Yamato (ancient name for Japan)
2. Dahe (an ancient kingdom in China in 929 - 934)
3. (～市) Yamato (a city in Kanagawa, Japan)

• 日本 (Rìběn)
• 倭 (wō)

⟨yamato₂⟩: [jamatə] → /jamato/

From older 邪馬台 (yamatai). Originally a geographical region in Nara, came to refer to all of Nara, and eventually to the country as a whole: Japan.

Chinese texts often used the word 倭 (“dwarf, midget”) to refer to the people of the Japanese archipelago, possibly because they were actually smaller, or more likely as an insult. This character came to be used in early Japanese texts, such as the Man'yōshū poetry compilation, with a kun'yomi or native-Japanese reading of Yamato to refer to Japan in general.

This 倭 character also has an on'yomi or borrowed Chinese reading of wa. During the reign of Empress Genmei (707–715), the 倭 character with an original Chinese meaning of “midget, dwarf” was replaced with the 和 character that is also read wa, but instead has the more favorable meaning of “harmony”, in spellings of the native Japanese term Yamato. The 和 character also has a kun'yomi of yawa, which would have been yaba in ancient times, suggesting another possible phonetic reason to use 和 to spell Yamato (on a softening of the “b”: yaba → yama). The 大 character meaning “great” was then prefixed to this.[1] The resulting kanji compound 大和 can also be read with a kun'yomi of Ōyamato[2][3] (see below).

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) や​まと [yáꜜmàtò] (Atamadaka – [1])[4][5]
  • IPA^(key): [ja̠ma̠to̞]

大和 (hiragana やまと, rōmaji Yamato)

1. a town in the Shikinoshimo district in the Yamato Province of Japan, generally equivalent to modern Tenri area
2. a city in Kanagawa Prefecture
3. one of the old provinces that made up Japan, generally equivalent to modern Nara prefecture
4. the country of Japan
5. 大和: a World War II battleship
6. 大和: A male given name
7. 大和: A surname​

• (Japan): 日本 (Nihon, Nippon)

• 奈 (な)良 (ら) (Nara)

From Old Japanese. Found in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.[6]

Compound of 大 (ō, “great, big”) +‎ 大和 (Yamato, “the ancient Yamato kingdom; Japan”). The kanji spelling is an example of ateji (当て字).

• (Irregular reading)
  • IPA^(key): [o̞ːja̠ma̠to̞]

大和 (hiragana おおやまと, rōmaji Ōyamato, historical hiragana おほやまと)

1. (historical) one of the old provinces that made up Japan, generally equivalent to modern Nara prefecture
2. (poetic) the country of Japan

• 奈 (な)良 (ら) (Nara)

Appears to be a borrowing from Middle Chinese 大和 (MC dɑi^H|dɑ^H ɦuɑ|ɦuɑ^H).

• On’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [da̠iɰᵝa̠]

大和 (hiragana だいわ, rōmaji Daiwa)

1. an era in history:
   1. (Chinese history) an era during the Tang dynasty, from 827 through 835 CE
   2. (Chinese history) an era during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, from 929 through 935 CE
   3. (Vietnamese history) an era during the reign of Lê Nhân Tông, from 1443 through 1453
2. a company:
   1. a department store based in Kanazawa
   2. a tourist bus company based in Kagoshima Prefecture
   3. a chain of supermarkets in Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures
   4. a financial services company
3. a place:
   1. a neighborhood in Takatsuki, a city in Osaka Prefecture
   2. a township in Bazhong, a city in Sichuan

Cognate with Japanese 大和 (Yamato).

• IPA^(key): /jamatuː/

大和 (hiragana やまとﾟぅー, romaji Yamatū)

1. Japan

• 大和言葉 (やまとﾟぅーふとﾟぅーば, Yamatū futūba, “Japanese language”)

Cognate with Japanese 大和 (Yamato).

• IPA^(key): /jamatu/

大和 (hiragana やまとぅ, romaji Yamatu)

1. Japan

• 大和口 (やまとぅふつ, Yamatufutsu, “Japanese language”)

Cognate with Japanese 大和 (Yamato).

• IPA^(key): /jamatu/

大和 (hiragana やまとぅ, romaji Yamatu)

1. Japan

• 大和口 (やまとぅぐち, Yamatuguchi, “Japanese language”)

Cognate with Japanese 大和 (Yamato).

• IPA^(key): /jamatu/

大和 (hiragana やまとぅ, romaji Yamatu)

1. Japan

• 大和物言 (やまとぅむに, Yamatumuni, “Japanese language”)

Cognate with Japanese 大和 (Yamato).

• IPA^(key): /damatu/

大和 (hiragana だまとぅ, romaji Damatu)

1. Japan

• 大和物言 (だまとぅんむぬい, Damatunmunui, “Japanese language”)