海老名
Chinese
| ocean; sea | old; aged; venerable; outdated; experienced; (affectionate prefix) |
name; fame; to describe; place | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simp. and trad. (海老名) |
海 | 老 | 名 | |
Etymology
Orthographic borrowing from Japanese 海老名 (Ebina).
Pronunciation
Japanese
| Kanji in this term | ||
|---|---|---|
| 海 | 老 | 名 |
| Grade: 2 | Grade: 4 | な Grade: 1 |
| Irregular | ||
Etymology
/jebina/ → /ebina/
Uncertain. Literally 海老 (ebi, “shrimp, prawn”) + 名 (na, “name”).
The place name has apparently been in use since roughly the mid-Heian period (794–1185 CE), when the Ebina clan controlled the area. That said, it is unclear whether the place name came from the clan name, or the other way around.
Derivation theories include:
- Named for large shrimp caught at the nearby mouth of the Sagami River
- Named for the bend in the Sagami River where one of the oldest shrines is located, with said bend thought to resemble the arch of a shrimp's back
- Named for the local topography, with the ebi portion of the name (ancient yebi) instead a shift from 指 (yubi, “finger”) in reference to the jointed and stepped shape of the land
Proper noun
海老名 (hiragana えびな, rōmaji Ebina)
- a place name, especially the name of a city in Kanagawa Prefecture: Ebina, Kanagawa
- a surname
Further reading
- Etymology at Nihonjiten (in Japanese)
- 海老名市#地名の由来 ("Ebina City: Origin of the place name") on the Japanese Wikipedia
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