WORDS RELATING TO THE SOVRAN. _Sumeramikoto_ (Supreme Majesty) is found only in the _dai_ (arguments), not in the _uta_. The commonest term in the latter is _Ohokimi_ (great Lord, grand seigneur), but this expression is not confined to the Sovran. Other terms are _sumeragi_ (_sumerogi_, _suberogi_) and _sumerami_; _-gi_ = prince, _mi_ = princess (conf. Izanagi and Izanami, Inviting Male and Inviting Female (K.)); but see Aston, _Shintô_. What _sume_ means is uncertain, it may be connected with _sube_ (_shiru_), universally know, i.e. govern the land. Other expressions are _kamuro kamu subera_ or _sumera_ or _sumero_, _kamu_ adding the notion of ‘divine’. _Ohokimi_, ‘chief’, I take to be the oldest; the other forms smack of China. As to ‘ro’, see above remarks on the particle ‘ro’. In the Kogi etymology _ro_ = the _re o_ of _are oya_ in _kamu are oya_ = god-born ancestry. _Mikado_ means grand gate or palace, and by metonymy came to signify its lord, just as at the present day _miya_ (grand mansion) denotes an imperial prince. _Mikado_ also means ‘sovran dominion’ as in _toho-mikado_, distant palace, that is, wide dominion, sometimes applied specially to the Tsukushi government, to Korea, or even to China, as on the confines of, but still within, the authority of the _Ohokimi_ of Japan. The following phrases may be here noticed--_mikoto kashikomi_, dread majesty, _Ohokimi no make_ (or _hiki_) _no manimani_, in obeisance to the _Ohokimi’s_ will or appointment. _Mi_ has several meanings which must be distinguished. They are (1) an honour-prefix, grand, great; (2) prefix of praise, εὐ = _ma_, true, real; (3) self; (4) body, person; (5) a stem of _miru_, see (6) root of _midzu_; (7) fruit of tree or herb; (8) the numeral three; (9) as a termination _se wo hayami_, swift the stream; _hiromi_, broad-like; _fukami_, deep. Of the intensive prefixes _i_, _ka_, and _ta_, no explanation has yet been given. They resemble Greek ζα. Examples are _i-yuki_, _ka-guroki_, _ta-moto-horu_. For the purposes of the present work, Dr. Aston’s grammar of the written language (third edition) is much the most useful. THE SCRIPT OF THE MANYÔSHIU The Lays are written wholly in Chinese characters. But these are employed in several very peculiar ways, and the texts as they stand are completely unintelligible to a Chinese, even to a Japanese, who has not specially studied them. In all the editions, however, except the Riyakuge, the columns of text are accompanied by a _kana_ transliteration--in the Riyakuge the _kana_ (_hira_) transliteration is given separately from the text.