やなぎ

Japanese

Alternative spellings
柳楊楊柳

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

ヤナギ

Wikipedia ^ja

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Willow

Wikipedia

From Old Japanese. Cognate with Kunigami 柳 (yanāji), Miyako 柳 (yanagzï), Okinawan 柳 (yanaji) (likely all early borrowings from Middle Japanese).

The ultimate derivation is uncertain, with several theories presented in reference works. Some of the main theories:

Appears to be derived from a compound, possibly 矢 (ya, “arrow”) +‎ な (na, Old Japanese apophonic form of possessive particle の (no)) +‎ 木 (ki, “tree”).^[1] The ki changes to gi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).
Alternatively, the ya might be from the 字音 (jion, “character reading”) of Middle Chinese 楊 (MC yang, “willow”) + Japanese 木 (ki, “tree”).^[1]

Considering the existence of synonymous form やぎ (yagi) that appears in certain compounds, the medial na element is likely the particle.

First cited to roughly 759 CE, in the Man'yōshū collection of poetry with the phonetic Man'yōgana spelling 也奈宜.^[1]

やなぎ or ヤナギ • (yanagi)

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as ヤナギ.
In some compounds, yanagi becomes yagi. See that entry for fuller details: やぎ.

柳(やなぎ)は緑(みどり)花(はな)は紅(くれない) (yanagi wa midori hana wa kurenai, “willows are green, flowers are red”)

やなぎ • (Yanagi)