足引きの

Japanese

Kanji in this term
足	引
あし Grade: 1	ひ Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
足曳きの

Etymology

⟨asipi₁ki₂ no₂⟩⟨asipi₁ki₁ no₂⟩ → */asipʲikɨ nə/*/asipʲikʲi nə/ → /aɕiɸiki no/ → /aɕihiki no//aɕibiki no/

From Old Japanese.

Original derivation unknown, various theories exist. The kanji spelling literally means “foot-dragging”, possibly implying a sense of “climbing while ‘pulling’ one's legs” → “foot-aching, foot-wearying” → “rugged”. However, analysis of Old Japanese vowels imply that about 80% of the Old Japanese poems use pi₁ki₂ more than pi₁ki₁, and 引き (pi₁ki₁ → hiki, “pulling”) is not the original derivation but rather a later development in the Man'yōshū (c. 759 CE).

Sometimes the hiki is voiced due to rendaku (連濁) as ashibiki no, attested since the late medieval era.

Phrase

足(あし)引(ひ)きの or 足(あし)引(び)きの • (ashihiki no or ashibiki no) 

1. (poetic) a pillow word of uncertain meaning: allusion to 山 (yama, “mountain”) or words beginning with yama

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:足引きの.

Old Japanese

Kanji in this term
足	引
Grade: 1	Grade: 2

Alternative spellings
足日木の 足曳きの

Etymology

Unknown, theories include:

• The kanji spelling literally means “foot-dragging”, possibly implying a sense of “climbing while ‘pulling’ one's legs” → “foot-aching, foot-wearying” → “rugged”. However, analysis of Old Japanese vowels imply that about 80% of the Old Japanese poems use pi₁ki₂ more than pi₁ki₁ and 引き (pi₁ki₁, “pulling”), is not the original derivation but rather a later development in the Man'yōshū (c. 759 CE). Furthermore, the verb 引く (pi₁ku, “to pull”) was never attested as a 上二段活用 (kami nidan katsuyō, “upper bigrade conjugation”) verb expected of pi₁ki₂ as both a 未然形 (mizenkei, “incomplete form”) and 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “stem form”).
• The alternative spelling 日木 (*pi₁ki₂) literally means “sun tree”, alluding to hinoki cypresses. However, this pi₁ki₂ is probably unattested, the expected word would have been pi₁no₂ki₂ (modern hinoki).

Phrase

足引きの (asipi₁ki₂ no₂ or asipi₁ki₁ no₂) (kana あしひきの)

1. a pillow word of uncertain meaning:
   1. allusion to 山 (yama, “mountain”), words beginning with yama, 峰 (wo, “hilltop, peak”), etc.
   2. allusion to 岩根 (ipane, “rock”), 木の間 (ko₂no₂ma, “in between trees”), etc.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:足引きの.

Descendants

• Japanese: 足引きの (ashihiki no, ashibiki no)