師走

Japanski

Alternative spelling
十二月

/sipasu/ → /ɕifasu/ → /ɕiwasu/

Shift from shihasu, ancient sipasu (see below).

師(し)走(わす) (shiwasu) ^{←しはす (sifasu)^?}

(archaic) the twelfth month of the lunar calendar
- c. 859-985, Kagura Uta, Kodai Kayōshū, strana 337:
  
  ja
  —本乎美名古乃左衣八末志毛月志波須乃加伊古本千

Sinonims: 限りの月 (kagiri no tsuki), 極まり月 (kiwamarizuki), 極月 (gokugetsu), 果ての月 (hate no tsuki), 臘月 (rōgetsu)
(poetic) the month of preparation for the new year: December

師(し)走(わす) (Shiwasu) ^{←しはす (sifasu)^?}

/sipasu/ → /ɕifasu/ → /ɕihasu/

Od Old Japanese of unknown derivation. First appears in the Nihon Shoki of 720 CE.^[3].

Possible etymologies

From 師(し) (shi, “Buddhist monk”) + 馳(は)す (hasu, “to hurry, to make run”, modern 馳せる), as there were traditionally many services for monks to attend during this month. However Old Japanese verbs usually do not form nouns with their terminal form.^{[note 1]}^[4]^[5] If this is a folk etymology, the kanji would be ateji, as it is generally regarded.
はす (hasu) may be derived from 果(は)つ (patu, “to come to an end”, modern 果てる), or a perhaps related root *pas- meaning "edge; division between two things", referring to the end of a year. Compare 橋(はし) (hashi), 端(はし) (hashi), 挟(はさ)む (hasamu).^[4]^[5] However all these sound changes remain unexplained.

師(し)走(はす) (shihasu)

↑ ^1,0 ^1,1 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN 4-385-13905-9
↑ ^2,0 ^2,1 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3
↑ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
↑ ^4,0 ^4,1 “師走”, in 日本大百科全書：ニッポニカ (Nippon Dai Hyakka Zensho: Nipponica, “Encyclopedia Nipponica”)‎^[1] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 1984
↑ ^5,0 ^5,1 Entry in Gogen-Allguide (in Japanese)

↑ The expected form would be *しはせ (sipase) or *しはし (sipasi), which are not attested. This explanation is already prevalent in the Heian period, appearing in the Iroha Jiruishō of the 1100s.