かばね

Japanese

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) かばね [kàbáné] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ka̠ba̠ne̞]

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese.

Ultimate derivation unclear. Some theories derive this clan sense as a Japanese compound of 株 (kabu, “stock, root”) + 根 (ne, “root, origin”) or 名 (na, “name”). However, the required /u/ → /a/ sound shift would be unusual.

Another thought is that this might be a borrowing from, or somehow otherwise related to, Korean 골품 (golpum), a Sino-Korean term also spelled 骨品 (literally “bones + goods”), the name for a kind of kinship hierarchy that was prevalent in the Silla kingdom. This latter theory and its related bone sense might also account for the homophony with 屍, 尸 (kabane, “corpse, dead body”).

Noun

かばね • (kabane) 

1. 姓: clan

   Synonym: 氏 (uji)

2. (historical) a kind of hereditary title bestowed to clans in ancient Japan

Derived terms

• 姓(かばね)書(がき) (kabane-gaki): (historical) someone's full name, written out with the status of their clan appended
• 姓(かばね)名(な) (kabane na): clan name
• 八色(やくさ)の姓(かばね) (Yakusa no Kabane), 八色(はっしき)の姓(かばね) (Hasshiki no Kabane): a specific set of eight kabane titles promulgated by Emperor Tenmu in 675 CE

Etymology 2

From Old Japanese. Appears in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.

Probably cognate with kabane (“clan”) above.

Noun

かばね • (kabane) 

1. 尸, 屍: corpse, dead body

   Synonyms: 屍, 尸 (shikabane), 死骸 (shigai)

2. 尸, 屍: (after full decomposition) a skeleton, bones

   Synonym: (skeleton) 骸骨 (gaikotsu)

3. 尸: short for 尸冠 (shikabane kanmuri), the 尸 radical

Derived terms

• 屍(かばね)草(ぐさ) (kabane-gusa): literally “corpse grass”: alternative name for 屁糞葛 (hekuso kazura, literally “fart-shit vine”, Paederia foetida: the skunkvine, stinkvine, or Chinese fever vine); alternative name for 熊竹蘭 (kumatake ran, “Alpinia formosana”, a kind of flowering plant in the ginger family)
• 屍(かばね)所(どころ) (kabane-dokoro): literally “corpse place”: a grave; one's final resting place, where one intends to die

Idioms

• 屍(かばね)に血(ち)をあやす (kabane ni chi o ayasu): “to drip blood on a corpse” → to speak ill of the dead
• 屍(かばね)の恥(はじ) (kabane no haji): “the shame of a corpse” → something shameful that only becomes known after someone has died

Further reading

• Etymology at Gogen-Allguide (in Japanese)