さま
Japanese edit
Etymology 1 edit
| Alternative spellings |
|---|
| 様 方 状 |
From Old Japanese. Originally a compound of さ (sa, “that”, pronominal indicating a person, place, thing, or direction in the middle distance) + ま (ma, “likeness, way, similarity”, suffix indicating a quality).[1]
Alternative forms edit
- ざま (-zama) (when used as a suffix in some combinations)
Pronunciation edit
(with rendaku when used as a suffix in some combinations)
Noun edit
- a person's appearance (as of body, or style, or face, etc.)
- the state or situation of a thing
- 鋭敏。感覚が鋭いこと。また、そのさま。[1]
- Eibin. Kankaku ga surudoi koto. Mata, sono sama.
- Eibin. For the senses to be sharp. Or, the state of being such.
- 鋭敏。感覚が鋭いこと。また、そのさま。[1]
- the general trend, tenor, or feel of a thing
- one's social station, status, or quality
- the way or means of doing something, how one does something
- the reason or circumstances for something
Derived terms edit
Pronoun edit
- (archaic, honorific) second-person pronoun: you, you all
- (archaic, honorific) third-person distal pronoun: he, she, they (distant from both speaker and listener)
Usage notes edit
Used primarily by women of the red-light districts of the Edo period.[1]
The pronoun senses have largely fallen into disuse. These originated as abbreviations of longer forms 君様 (kimisama, literally “lord + that way”), 方様 (katasama, literally “that side + that way”), or 貴様 (kisama, literally “noble + that way”), with the -sama suffix (see below) developing into an independent use.
Suffix edit
- (honorific) polite personal suffix: honorable, Mr., Ms.
- Synonym: (polite) さん (san)
- 吉田様が来られました。
- Yoshida-sama ga koraremashita.
- Mr. [honorable] Yoshida has come here.
- (honorific) attaching to nouns or other nominals: a politeness marker that often has no direct translation, replacing copula です (desu)
- Synonym: (polite) さん (san)
- ご苦労様。
- Gokurō-sama.
- You have done well [honorable].
- attaching to specific nouns or other nominals: that way, that direction
- 逆様、横様
- sakasama, yokosama
- backwards, sideways
- 逆様、横様
- (archaic) attaching to verbs: just as (indicating the specific time when the verb is happening)
- attaching to verbs: the way of doing something, how one does something (often undergoes rendaku, changing -sama to -zama)
- 座り様
- suwarisama
- how one sits
- 座り様
Usage notes edit
The honorific senses developed out of euphemistic use of the noun sense of sama, “that way”, as an oblique form of reference, starting from around the Muromachi period.[1]
The -sama suffix after personal names is more respectful than the everyday さん (-san), and is generally only used when being very polite. Gender-neutral. This is sometimes glossed as honorable, but honorable is also used as a title, such as for judges or governors or certain ranks of nobility, whereas -sama is purely about politeness and relative social closeness.
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
See also edit
References edit
Etymology 2 edit
| For pronunciation and definitions of さま – see the following entry. | ||
| ||
| (This term, さま, is the hiragana spelling of the above term.) For a list of all kanji read as さま, see Category:Japanese kanji read as さま.) |