46974
What is the etymology of 一緒{いっしょ}に? Why kanji 緒{しょ} (meaning "thong") is used
in this expression, and not 諸{しょ} (meaning "together")?
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2017-04-30T18:09:30.027
46971
2017-05-04T18:46:15.500
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question
kanji etymology
Why is "together" spelled with "thong"
The basic meaning of 緒 _sho_ is "thread" (or "thread end"). Some say 一緒
_issho_ comes from the homophone 一所 _issho_ , "in one place", which appears in
old works such as the _Heike Monogatari_ with the meaning of "together". If
this is correct, then 一緒 _issho_ must be a
[reanalysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reanalysis_\(linguistics\)) meant
to distinguish the "together" nuances from the basic "physically at the same
place" meaning. That is:

  * In the first stage, you have 一所 _issho_ = "one place; physically at one (and the same) place".
  * Then 一所 _issho_ starts to be used metaphorically to mean "together", not just in the same place but also "performing in combination", "united in a single whole", "in a relationship" etc.
  * Then 一緒 _issho_ is devised to distinguish the latter nuances.

Why did they choose "thread" to mean "together"? I don't know, but if I had to
speculate, to me at least the idea of "together as if in a single thread"
brings to mind things like this:  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WeMQa.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WeMQa.jpg)

Why not use 諸 _sho-_? Well, the meaning of the word 諸 _sho-_ isn't "together"
at all. Rather, it's "all" or "various", used as a prefix quantifier (in
constructions like 諸君 _sho-kun_ = "all of you in the audience; ladies and
gentlemen!" or 諸国 _sho-koku_ = "the various countries, the many provinces").
You can say, for example, 「諸国が別々に解決した」 "each/every country settled it
separately". Not only the meaning doesn't match, but also the grammar doesn't
fit. 諸 _sho-_ was already a prefix in its Chinese origins, so it would
probably feel weird and nonsensical to put a prefix modifying a _ni_ in the
already-existing expression _issho-ni_ (which, you'll note, makes perfect
sense with the original analysis as 一所に). 緒 _sho_ , by contrast, is a
standalone noun, not a prefix.
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2017-04-30T19:28:38.373
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2017-05-04T18:46:15.500
2017-05-04T18:46:15.500
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answer