Page:An Ainu-English-Japanese dictionary (including a grammar of the Ainu language).djvu/576

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ANCIENT JAPANESE AND AINU COMPARED.
japanese. ainu.
A, “I.” A, “I.” Also the verb of existence; “is”; “am.”
A, “Net.” ya, “a net.”
A, “A foot.” A, “a tine”; “prong of a fork.”
Abai, “A shield.” Apa-kikkara, “to defend.”
Abame, “To despise.” Apange, “To despise.” The root of this word is pan, “insipid.”
Ae-mono, “food eaten with rice.” Ae-p, “food.” The roots are, e “to eat,” a, a passive participle, p, “thing.” Hence a-e-p, food. P is the equivalent of mono.
Aka, “the holy water of the Buddhists.” Aka and Wakka, ordinary “drinking water.”

Speaking of water reminds the author that Chief Penri of Piratori once desired to claim relationship because Eng., “water” and Ainu wakka were so much alike. But when informed that ship was chip, “bone,” pone, “two,” tu, and “three,” re, he was quite certain we were brothers. With regard to the use of aka for “water,” however, it should be remarked that in Saghalien the Ainu usually employ the word pe, and aka is nearly obsolete. Still, that the word is of very ancient use among the Ainu on the Siberian continent is proved by Dobrotvorsky who gives the word akasannai as the name of “rivulet” there. He does not, however, venture to show the derivation of the name. Yet in plain, matter of fact, present day Ainu, aka-san-nai is simply “the valley with water running down it.” It corresponds to Waka-sa of the South of Japan and Wakka-o-nai of Yezo.

japanese. ainu.
Azuki, “a kind of small red bean.” Antuki, A kind of small red bean.” The root seems to be tuk, “to sprout.” Hence it would mean “the sprouter.”
Beko, “ox”; “cow.” Beko or Peko. Bek is the Ainu onomatopœa for the “lowing” of oxen.