ITT: Etymology
 

Alrighty boys and girls, let's get the linguists up here and go through some etymology! If there's another thread on this, I haven't seen it and am thus ignoring it. :cool:

Cuz honestly, if I know the story behind a word, I'm 1,000 times more likely to remember it.

I was thinking today about the kanji for 日本. Anybody know why these kanji are used, and also what the significance or meaning--if any-- lie behind the country's name? I have my suspicions but I want to see what you all say first.

Also let's lay down some more etymological knowledge as we see fit.

It's no secret. The name for Japan 日本 came from China.

Japan is east of China, so the kanji of Japan mean "the root of the sun" as the place from where the sun rises. That is why Japan is called "the land of the rising sun"...because it is east of China.

Well, 日 is sun, and　本 is origin, at least in the context of 日本. It's to my understanding that the Chinese, knowing that the sun rises in the east, and Japan lies to the east of China, put two and two together and got 日本 - the land of the rising sun. Edit: Looks like I was too slow on this one!

One etymology that I recently learned myself is さようなら - despite learning Japanese for years, I never looked into that word. I knew the word 左様 (さよう) from watching Kurosawa movies, it basically means "that's so", or perhaps "indeed". なら can be translated as "if", so 左様 + なら is sort of like saying "on that note...", an indirect way of saying goodbye. Not that easy to explain in English, but I tried :D

This is good idea. Can someone help me with this one:
医師

I remember is was something with an arrow....? :confused:

Well according to Rikaichan it says いし, which means doctor or physician. I know 医 is a kanji associated with medicine, like in 医者 (also doctor), and 師 is like a master, teacher, or mentor, as in 教師.

According to my 電子辞書 (this is why a good one comes in handy), 医 comes from a sense of 矢をしまいこむ容器, a vessel in which you put an arrow. There's more explanation, but I don't have time to read through it right now. That could put someone on the right track right now.

This character is a simplified version of another character denoting the same meaning of "medicine-ish".

As far as I know, it's likely come from "assorted tools for curing a sick life" by visually looking at the original character.

Not true, but close. Etymology

醫의 검색 결과 :: 네이버 한자사전

I got it in the Korean CC dictionary.

"An alcoholic beverage (酉, the old term for 酒) for curing purposes to the ones who scream (殹)"