拘る

Japanese edit

FWOTD – 3 September 2022

Etymology 1 edit

Kanji in this term
拘
こだわ Grade: S
kun’yomi

From こ (ko-, “a small thing: 小, 個”) +‎ たわる (tawaru, “to lose oneself in something, to obsess over something: 戯る, 狂る”). The tawaru changes to dawaru as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Tawaru derives from the same tawa element in words such as 戯ける (tawakeru, “to mess around, to act crazy, to be nonsensical”) or 戯言 (tawagoto, “nonsense, crazy talk”), indicating "actions or state out of the ordinary: eccentricity, preposterousness, absurdity":
tawa + auxiliary verb る (ru, indicating spontaneous or passive action).

Tawa may be the nominalized imperfective form of root verb たう (tau, “to stand up to pressure, to remain unchanged, to last; to be appropriate to a task, to have value: 堪う, 耐う, 勝う”), with the imperfective possibly indicating “not lasting: fickle, changing; not being appropriate, not having value”.

Pronunciation edit

(Tokyo) こだわる [kòdáwáꜜrù] (Nakadaka – [3])^[1]
IPA^(key): [ko̞da̠ɰᵝa̠ɾɯ̟ᵝ]

Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of "こだわる"

Stem forms
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Terminal (終止形) Attributive (連体形)	こだわる	こだわる	`[kòdáwáꜜrù]`
Imperative (命令形)	こだわれ	こだわれ	`[kòdáwáꜜrè]`
Key constructions
Passive	こだわられる	こだわられる	`[kòdáwáráréꜜrù]`
Causative	こだわらせる	こだわらせる	`[kòdáwáráséꜜrù]`
Potential	こだわれる	こだわれる	`[kòdáwáréꜜrù]`
Volitional	こだわろう	こだわろー	`[kòdáwáróꜜò]`
Negative	こだわらない	こだわらない	`[kòdáwáráꜜnàì]`
Negative perfective	こだわらなかった	こだわらなかった	`[kòdáwáráꜜnàkàttà]`
Formal	こだわります	こだわります	`[kòdáwárímáꜜsù]`
Perfective	こだわった	こだわった	`[kòdáwáꜜttà]`
Conjunctive	こだわって	こだわって	`[kòdáwáꜜttè]`
Hypothetical conditional	こだわれば	こだわれば	`[kòdáwáꜜrèbà]`

Verb edit

拘(こだわ)る • (kodawaru) ^{←こだはる (kodafaru)^?}intransitive godan (stem 拘(こだわ)り (kodawari), past 拘(こだわ)った (kodawatta))

to get hung up on something, to not proceed smoothly
些細(ささい)なことに拘(こだわ)って納品(のうひん)が遅(おく)れた。
Sasai na koto ni kodawatte nōhin ga okureta.
He got hung up on minor details, and he was late delivering [the product].
to be concerned over something that is not worth attention: to be overly fastidious or particular
無視(むし)すればよいのに、どうして拘(こだわ)るの。
Mushi sureba yoi no ni, dōshite kodawaru no.
You should be ignoring that, so why are you worrying about it?
- 2014, Kimura Sōta, Terebi ga tsutaenai Kenpō no hanashi [What TV doesn’t say about the Constitution], page 191:
  
  そういう奇(き)妙(みょう)な拘(こだわ)りを持(も)つ人(ひと)が強(きょう)調(ちょう)するのは、決(き)まって、日(に)本(ほん)国(こく)憲(けん)法(ぽう)の制(せい)定(てい)経(けい)緯(い)である。
  Sō iu kimyō na kodawari o motsu hito ga kyōchō suru no wa, kimatte, Nihonkoku Kenpō no seitei keī de aru.
  People who have that strange fixation always emphasize, without fail, the process through which the Japanese Constitution was established.
to nitpick about something
メニューの言葉遣(ことばづか)いに拘(こだわ)り文句(もんく)を言(い)う
menyū no kotobazukai ni kodawari monku o iu
to nitpick and complain about the wording of the menu
to take special care over something, to be particular (in a positive way)
品質(ひんしつ)に拘(こだわ)る
hinshitsu ni kodawaru
to be careful about quality, to be particular about quality
- 2013 September 29, Matsuyama Iwao, “‘Bunshi no yūjō Yoshiyuki Junnosuke no koto nado’ Yasuoka Shōtarō cho tomo no kioku, bungaku e no kakugo [‘Bunshi no yūjō Yoshiyuki Junnosuke no koto nado’ by Yasuoka Shotaro: memories of a friend, determination toward literature]”, in Yomiuri Shimbun, page 13:
  
  だがその実(じつ)、記(き)憶(おく)を蘇(よみがえ)らせつつ、例(たと)えば吉(よし)行(ゆき)の初(しょ)期(き)短(たん)篇(ぺん)を再(さい)読(どく)する過(か)程(てい)で、安(やす)岡(おか)の小(しょう)説(せつ)への真(しん)摯(し)な拘(こだわ)りが明(あき)らかになる。
  Da ga sono jitsu, kioku o yomigaerase tsutsu, tatoeba Yoshiyuki no shoki tanpen o saidoku suru katei de, Yasuoka no shōsetsu e no shinshi na kodawari ga akiraka ni naru.
  But in fact, through this remembrance, for example in the process of rereading Yoshiyuki’s early short fiction, Yasuoka’s sincere commitment to the novel becomes clear.

Usage notes edit

This term is often spelled in hiragana.

Though intransitive, this verb usually takes an indirect object followed by the particle に (ni).

The positive connotations of sense 4 appear to be a more recent development. Some speakers and writers may caution against using the word this way.

Conjugation edit

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

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	拘ら	こだわら	kodawara
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	拘り	こだわり	kodawari
Shūshikei ("terminal")	拘る	こだわる	kodawaru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	拘る	こだわる	kodawaru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	拘れ	こだわれ	kodaware
Meireikei ("imperative")	拘れ	こだわれ	kodaware
Key constructions
Passive	拘られる	こだわられる	kodawarareru
Causative	拘らせる拘らす	こだわらせるこだわらす	kodawaraseru kodawarasu
Potential	拘れる	こだわれる	kodawareru
Volitional	拘ろう	こだわろう	kodawarō
Negative	拘らない	こだわらない	kodawaranai
Negative continuative	拘らず	こだわらず	kodawarazu
Formal	拘ります	こだわります	kodawarimasu
Perfective	拘った	こだわった	kodawatta
Conjunctive	拘って	こだわって	kodawatte
Hypothetical conditional	拘れば	こだわれば	kodawareba

Synonyms edit

Synonyms

(negative: get stuck on, get hung up about): 拘泥(こうでい) (kōdei)
(positive: be careful about): 極(きわ)める (kiwameru)

Etymology 2 edit

Kanji in this term
拘
かかわ Grade: S
kun’yomi

Alternative spellings
拘わる関わる係わる

Derived from the explicitly intransitive or passive form of root verb かかう (kakau, “to carry, to be carried: 抱う, 香う”):
kakau > imperfective form kakawa + auxiliary verb る (ru, indicating spontaneous or passive action).

In turn, kakau derives from root verb かく (kaku, “to catch one thing atop another: 掛く, 懸く”):
kaku > imperfective form kaka + auxiliary verb ふ (fu, indicating repetition or ongoing state: modern verb ending う u).