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I was surprised to learn that 飯 has the reading いい such as in 飯{いい}田{だ}橋{ばし},
and this is also [listed as an
"archaicism"](http://jisho.org/word/%E9%A3%AF-2) in my dictionary. I know this
kanji has the more usual kun-yomi めし (and on-yomi はん), but what is the
etymology of this alternate reading? In particular, is it originally a native
Japanese word (Yamato kotoba)?
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etymology
Etymology of いい reading of 飯
Yes, い[ひ]{い} is indeed a yamato kotoba which can be found in
[万葉集](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27y%C5%8Dsh%C5%AB). From
[学研全訳古語辞典](http://kobun.weblio.jp/content/%E9%A3%AF):

> いひ 【飯】 名詞 飯（めし）。
>

>> 出典 万葉集 一四二 「家にあれば笥（け）に盛るいひを」 [訳] ⇒いへにあれば…。

いひ is even older than めし. めし gradually replaced いひ around the Muromachi
period, according to [this page](http://gogen-allguide.com/me/meshi.html).
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## Origins of the _ii_ reading

### A native origin?

This appears as _ihi_ in historical hiragana renderings (i.e. using kana
spellings from before the Post-WWII spelling reforms), likely realized in
ancient times as _ipi_.

Digging around, this is a bit of an odd one. There are not many ancient
native-Japanese words ( _Yamato kotoba_ ) that have this phonetic structure.
`[VOWEL]` + `/pi/` could suggest a verbal derivation, but the only verb
`/ipu/` is the root of modern 言{い}う, and that doesn't fit.

It could be a native term that's just a little odd.

### An ancient nativized borrowing?

I have bumped into interesting suggestions that this might not be a _Yamato
kotoba_ after all.

The older meaning of 飯 with the `/ipi/` reading appears to be the more generic
sense _"grain"_ , rather than specifically _"rice"_.

We know from archaeology that the [Yayoi
settlers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yayoi_period) who crossed over to the
Japanese archipelago from the mainland were also grain farmers. The geographic
origins are a bit murky, but be it modern Jiangsu Province or somewhere in
Manchuria, these pre-Yayoi people would probably have had contact with Chinese
speakers, and trade activities could lead to the borrowing of a few relevant
words.

In Middle Chinese, 粒 _"grain"_ was pronounced as `/liɪp̚/`, which we also see
evidenced in now-obsolete Korean hanja reading [립]{rip}. It seems that Old
Japanese (and probably prehistoric Japanese) did not allow native words to
begin with `/r/` (see quote and link in [this other JSE
thread](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/15449/etymology-
of-%E5%AE%B5-%E3%82%88%E3%81%84#answer-15906)). If Middle Chinese `/liɪp̚/`
were imported into prehistoric Japanese, it may well have nativized as `/ipi/`
rather than the `/ritu/` form we see for the later borrowing of 立 with a
similar MK reading of `/liɪp̚/`.

And given the nearly-millenia-long Japanese propensity for applying kanji
spellings in creative ways to write words with related meanings but different
readings, it is not much of a stretch to find the 飯 character with a Chinese
meaning of _"food, cooked rice"_ used for the `/ipi/` _"grain"_ sense.

Note that this is all **very** circumstantial.

## Side note: Origins of the _meshi_ reading

It bears noting that the _kun'yomi_ of めし is the 連用形{れんようけい} or continuative
form of verb 召{め}す. This started out as an honorific for 見{み}る, using the _-e_
vowel stem + ancient honorific verb ending す (which interestingly has
parallels with the _-si-_ or _-se-_ honorific verb infix in Korean). Over
time, and through various evolutions of usage and meaning, this verb _mesu_
gained a sense of _"to put into or onto the body"_ → _"to eat; to drink; to
wear"_. The _"eat"_ sense is already apparent in the
[_Man'yōshū_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27y%C5%8Dsh%C5%AB) in [poem
3853](http://jti.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/manyoshu/Man16Yo.html#3853), which
spells out the imperative form 召{め}せ in phonetic
[_man'yōgana_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27y%C5%8Dgana) as 賣{め}世{せ}.
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