Diego Collado's Grammar of the Japanese LanguageCollado, Diego
History
Diego Collado's Grammar of the Japanese Language
Collado, Diego
Japanese language -- Grammar
The impersonal verbs (_verba impersonalia_) do not name or refer to a
person; e.g., _mi vo fatasu tomo itçuvari vo ivanu mono gia_ (39 (69v)
'even if one were to die, one should not tell a lie,' _mono mo tabezu saqe
mo nomaide ichinichi fataraqu mono ca?_ (69v) 'is it possible to work all
day without eating anything or drinking any wine?', _xujin no_ {145} _maie
de sono ióna coto vo iú mono ca?_ 'is it possible to speak this way in
front of ones lord?' Concerning the conjugations for these verbs they
follow the rules according to their roots.
The root of any verb of whatever conjugation can be taken from its
conjugation and changed to another conjugation by adding one of the
particles of honor (_honor_). The resulting form will belong to the
conjugation determined by the final letter of the particle. These particles
are: _maraxi,uru_, _ari,u_, _saxerare,uru_, _xerare,uru_, _nasare,uru_,
_saxemaxi,u_, _tamai,ó_, _rare_ and _re_.[115]
The particle _maraxi_ does not add honor to that which is talked about, but
rather it is used to speak honorably to those in front of us. For example;
_cui,u_ means 'I eat,'[116] but a servant in front of his master will not
say _nezumi ga cúta_ 'the mice ate the cheese'; he will rather say _nezumi
ga cui maraxita_. By itself _cui,u_ is in the third conjugation because its
root ends in _ui_, but if _maraxi_ is added it becomes a verb in the first
conjugation. When we refer to something about a people (_natio_) we do not
show honor to that word but only pay attention to the person we are
speaking to by adding _maraxi_ or not. For example, if we are addressing an
inferior we say _Nan ban jin va core vo cuvanu_; but if we are addressing a
person of nobility we say _Nan ban jin va core vo cui maraxenu_ 'Europeans
do not eat this.' When _ari,u_ is added to the root of any verb it attaches
a middling (_mediocris_) degree of honor; e.g., _modori aró ca?_ 'are you
going to come back?' If you add _vo_ in front of the verb it is honored
moderately (_satis_); e.g., _vomodori aró ca?_ 'Your Lordship is going to
come back?' _Tono sama vo xini atta toqi_ 'when the master died,' _Deus
cono xecai vo gosacu atta_ 'God created the world.'[117] We use these
particles when we are speaking with honored persons whom we like and with
whom we are on friendly terms.
The particle _nasare,uru_ gives the highest (_supremus_), or moderately
great (_satis magnus_) honor and is placed after the root of the verb;
e.g., _Deus cono xecai vo gosacu nasareta_ 'God created the world.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account