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Baka (Japanese word)
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Baka (Japanese word)
Baka (馬鹿／ばか／バカ; Japanese pronunciation: [baꜜ.ka], transl. idiot; stupid) is a Japanese pejorative. It is cited as the most frequently used pejorative term in the Japanese language.
The modern Japanese writing system transcribes the insult baka as バカ in katakana, ばか in hiragana, or 馬鹿 (lit. "horse deer") in ateji phonetic kanji transcription; earlier ateji renderings included 莫迦, 母嫁, 馬嫁, or 破家.
The first written usages of baka were during the Nanboku-chō period (1336–1392), when the "Northern and Southern Courts" battled.
In the earliest example, the Taiheiki historical epic records bakamono (馬鹿者) being used as an insult in 1342. The Ashikaga commander Toki Yoritō (土岐頼遠) refused to pay obeisance to retired Emperor Kōgon (r. 1313–1364), "Yoritō, probably inebriated, loudly demands to know what kind of fool (bakamono) has the temerity to order him to dismount." According to Carr, "Shinmura [Izuru] found that the original editions (fourteenth century) of the Taiheiki had baka written バカ; [while] later movable-type editions (c. 1600) had the characters 馬鹿."
A Bunmei-era (1469–1487) edition of the Setsuyōshū dictionary notes baka 馬鹿, which was also written 母嫁 (lit. "mother bride"), 馬嫁 (lit. "horse bride"), or 破家 (lit. "break family"), means rōzeki 狼藉 "disorder; confusion".
Many classical Japanese texts used baka. For instance, the (c. 1616) Kōyō Gunkan military chronicle transcribed baka as 馬嫁. Ihara Saikaku's (1682) Kōshoku Ichidai Otoko (好色一代男; "The Life of an Amorous Man"), which was a classic of the Ukiyozōshi genre, wrote baka with the modern kanji 馬鹿.
Although the origins of baka are uncertain, Japanese scholars have proposed various etymologies and folk etymologies. The two most widely cited are a Classical Chinese idiom and a loanword from Sanskrit.
First, the oldest hypothesis suggests that baka originated as a Chinese literary "allusion to a historical fool", the Qin dynasty traitor Zhao Gao (d. 207 BCE) from the Records of the Grand Historian. This etymology first appears in the (c. 1548) Unbo Irohashū (運歩色葉集) dictionary, which glosses baka 馬鹿 as meaning "point at a deer and say horse" (指鹿曰馬). Namely, the Chinese idiom zhǐlù-wéimǎ (指鹿為馬; lit. "point at a deer and call it a horse", Japanese 鹿を指して馬となす Shika o Sashite Uma to Nasu) meaning "deliberate misrepresentation for ulterior purposes". Zhao was an infamous minister who served the first emperor Qin Shi Huang (r. 246–221 BCE) and forced the second Qin Er Shi (r. 210–207 BCE) to commit suicide.
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Baka (Japanese word)
Baka (馬鹿／ばか／バカ; Japanese pronunciation: [baꜜ.ka], transl. idiot; stupid) is a Japanese pejorative. It is cited as the most frequently used pejorative term in the Japanese language.
The modern Japanese writing system transcribes the insult baka as バカ in katakana, ばか in hiragana, or 馬鹿 (lit. "horse deer") in ateji phonetic kanji transcription; earlier ateji renderings included 莫迦, 母嫁, 馬嫁, or 破家.
The first written usages of baka were during the Nanboku-chō period (1336–1392), when the "Northern and Southern Courts" battled.
In the earliest example, the Taiheiki historical epic records bakamono (馬鹿者) being used as an insult in 1342. The Ashikaga commander Toki Yoritō (土岐頼遠) refused to pay obeisance to retired Emperor Kōgon (r. 1313–1364), "Yoritō, probably inebriated, loudly demands to know what kind of fool (bakamono) has the temerity to order him to dismount." According to Carr, "Shinmura [Izuru] found that the original editions (fourteenth century) of the Taiheiki had baka written バカ; [while] later movable-type editions (c. 1600) had the characters 馬鹿."
A Bunmei-era (1469–1487) edition of the Setsuyōshū dictionary notes baka 馬鹿, which was also written 母嫁 (lit. "mother bride"), 馬嫁 (lit. "horse bride"), or 破家 (lit. "break family"), means rōzeki 狼藉 "disorder; confusion".
Many classical Japanese texts used baka. For instance, the (c. 1616) Kōyō Gunkan military chronicle transcribed baka as 馬嫁. Ihara Saikaku's (1682) Kōshoku Ichidai Otoko (好色一代男; "The Life of an Amorous Man"), which was a classic of the Ukiyozōshi genre, wrote baka with the modern kanji 馬鹿.
Although the origins of baka are uncertain, Japanese scholars have proposed various etymologies and folk etymologies. The two most widely cited are a Classical Chinese idiom and a loanword from Sanskrit.
First, the oldest hypothesis suggests that baka originated as a Chinese literary "allusion to a historical fool", the Qin dynasty traitor Zhao Gao (d. 207 BCE) from the Records of the Grand Historian. This etymology first appears in the (c. 1548) Unbo Irohashū (運歩色葉集) dictionary, which glosses baka 馬鹿 as meaning "point at a deer and say horse" (指鹿曰馬). Namely, the Chinese idiom zhǐlù-wéimǎ (指鹿為馬; lit. "point at a deer and call it a horse", Japanese 鹿を指して馬となす Shika o Sashite Uma to Nasu) meaning "deliberate misrepresentation for ulterior purposes". Zhao was an infamous minister who served the first emperor Qin Shi Huang (r. 246–221 BCE) and forced the second Qin Er Shi (r. 210–207 BCE) to commit suicide.