勇む

Japanese

Kanji in this term

勇

Etymology

From Old Japanese. Initial いさ (isa) portion shares its origin with the old isa reading for of 鯨 (“whale”). Ending む (mu) is likely the old auxiliary verb む, expressing intent, desire, or estimation.

Homophonic with archaic 営む (“to do business”), and archaic 諫む/諌む (“to admonish”), but semantic relationship is unclear.

Verb

勇む (intransitive, godan conjugation, hiragana いさむ, romaji isamu)

1. to be in high spirits, enthusiastic; to be brave or courageous
2. (archaic) to whinny
   • This sense is usually expressed using the word 嘶く (inanaku). However, the ending naku portion is homophonic with 泣く (“to cry, to weep”), and as such this word was treated as somewhat taboo by soldiers, who thus used isamu instead.
3. (archaic) to blow a horn as a signal in a naval battle

勇む (transitive, godan conjugation, hiragana いさむ, romaji isamu)

1. (archaic) to encourage, to cheer someone up

Conjugation

Conjugation of "勇む" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms	Imperfective (未然形)	勇ま	いさま	isama
	Continuative (連用形)	勇み	いさみ	isami
	Terminal (終止形)	勇む	いさむ	isamu
	Attributive (連体形)	勇む	いさむ	isamu
	Hypothetical (仮定形)	勇め	いさめ	isame
	Imperative (命令形)	勇め	いさめ	isame
Key constructions	Passive	勇まれる	いさまれる	isamareru
	Causative	勇ませる 勇ます	いさませる いさます	isamaseru isamasu
	Potential	勇める	いさめる	isameru
	Volitional	勇もう	いさもう	isamō
	Negative	勇まない	いさまない	isamanai
	Negative continuative	勇まず	いさまず	isamazu
	Formal	勇みます	いさみます	isamimasu
	Perfective	勇んだ	いさんだ	isanda
	Conjunctive	勇んで	いさんで	isande
	Hypothetical conditional	勇めば	いさめば	isameba

Synonyms

• (encourage): 勇める (いさめる, isameru)
• (whinny): 嘶く (いななく, inanaku)