33892
I'm writing a story with some... _very_ old people, so I'm chasing down some
very outdated pronunciations. What's the oldest known pronunciation for the
sentence "When is it?"

(I'm not _directly_ asking for an archaic pronunciation of「今、いつか？」because for
all I know they'd've used different words entirely, but that's the sentence as
it'd appear in modern Japanese.)
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2016-04-29T04:09:23.843
33858
2016-05-02T07:07:09.603
2016-04-30T04:14:46.600
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question
archaic-language
Oldest Japanese Pronunciation for "When Is It?"
I can't tell that this is absolutely correct as a word in Nara period, though.

In eight-hundreds, before 古今和歌集 was made, it seems that there was a
conversation like this between Mikado and an editor.

<http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~sg2h-ymst/yamatouta/sennin/arisue.html>  

```

    貞観の御時、万葉集はいつばかり作れるぞと問はせたまひければ、よみてたてまつりける
    (In the 貞観 era, Mikado asked me when 万葉集 had been made, and I replied in a poem.)
    
```

→when＝いつばかり  
Therefore it seems that "when" in ancient Japanese was the same as today's
word "いつ".  
And ばかり is a word of emphasis.  
Add a predicate of an interrogative sentence to this phrase, and it is like
this.

```

    いつなりや
    
```
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2016-05-01T09:28:13.407
33892
2016-05-02T07:07:09.603
2016-05-02T07:07:09.603
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answer