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[An entry of Tae Kim's
blog](http://www.guidetojapanese.org/blog/2008/07/26/on-the-possible-origin-
of-%E3%80%8C%E5%87%BA%E6%9D%A5%E3%82%8B%E3%80%8D/) suggested that 出来る came
from Chinese word 出来 that does have the nuance of potentiality, but the most
recent visitor's comment claimed that the usage of 出来 in Chinese to show
potentiality is fairly recent, so the usage of 出来る in Japanese might be
unrelated to the Chinese word after all.

If this Japanese verb really did not come from the Chinese, how do the kanji
characters for "to go out" and "to come" end up giving the nuance of
potentiality in Japanese?

Can anyone find out authoritative sources on the actual etymology of 出来る?

EDIT: Also, is the origin of 出来る somehow related to 出来 {しゅったい} (meaning:
occurrence) or 出来 {でき} (meaning: workmanship, execution etc)?
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kanji etymology
Etymology of 出来る dekiru
First, a general comment: one must always remember that there are two major
categories of ‘native’ Japanese words, namely the true native vocabulary
inherited from the prehistoric Japanese language, and the nativised vocabulary
imported from Chinese. Although there are some words whose classification is
unclear (うめ（梅）、うま（馬） etc.), by and large it is obvious from the ‘sound’ which
class a word falls into. 出来る is of the first category. The strongest evidence
for this is that the reading is _not_ what we would expect from an imported
Chinese word spelled with those kanji: indeed, the word しゅったい is much closer
to the expected reading しゅつらい.

I admit this isn't conclusive: it could well be a calque (i.e. a direct
translation) from Chinese, or even a direct borrowing of some Chinese word
(but not 出来) which was turned into a native verb. But I personally believe the
latter is unlikely, and I am not in a position to say one way or another about
the former. A solid answer would require knowledge of both languages and their
histories.

However, after a little search, it seems that the theory that できる was really
originally a compound of 出る and 来る does have some evidence. According to
[Daijisen](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/151118/m0u/%E3%81%A7%E3%81%8D%E3%82%8B/),
it's from the カ変 verb でく, and
[Daijirin](http://www.excite.co.jp/dictionary/japanese/?search=%E5%87%BA%E6%9D%A5&match=beginswith&itemid=13889500)
says でく is a contraction of いでく, which is consistent with the theory that it's
a compound of 出る (classical: いづ) and 来る (classical: く). Moreover, Daijirin
gives the following definition for
[いでく](http://www.excite.co.jp/dictionary/japanese/?search=%E3%81%84%E3%81%A7%E3%81%8F&match=beginswith&itemid=01215200):

> (1)出て、ここに来る。  
>  「大君の命かしこみ―・来れば/万葉 4358」
>
> (2)現れる。  
>  「象―・きてその山をこしつ/宇津保（俊蔭）」
>
> (3)発生する。生まれる。  
>  「国高安の郡に、いきかよふ所―・きにけり/伊勢 23」
>
> (4)出くわす。巡り合う。  
>  「風も吹かずよき日―・きて漕ぎゆく/土左」
>
> (5)可能である。うまくできる。  
>  「もし能よく―・れば、勝つ事は治定あるべし/風姿花伝」

Sense (5) is precisely the ‘potentiality’ we're interested in, and sense (1)
is exactly what you would expect from the kanji: ‘to leave and come here’.

But, I'm still a little suspicious: the example Daijirin gives for sense (5)
comes from a 15th century text, whereas the example for sense (1) comes from
the Man'yōshū—a 7th/8th century text. And Daijisen doesn't even give
‘potentiality’ as a possible meaning in its definition of
[いでく](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/13835/m0u/%E3%81%84%E3%81%A7%E3%81%8F/).

As for your additional question: The word でき is clearly obtained from the stem
of できる, and the meaning is more or less what you would expect from such a
derivation.
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I'd like to add some more detail onto Zhen Lin's answer. My source is
primarily Shogakukan's 1988 version of their _Kokugo Dai Jiten Dictionary,
Shinsou-ban (Revised edition)_.

### Morphology and Phonology

Modern 出{で}来{き}る comes from older 出{で}来{く}る, comes from older 出{で}来{く}, comes
from older 出{い}で来{く}. The oldest form is clearly a compound of 出{い}づ + 来{く}.

  * 出{い}づ _idzu_ (usually reconstructed as _idu_ for Old Japanese) was the original form of modern 出{で}る _deru_. This belonged to a class of verbs that conjugated a certain way, called a 下{しも}二段{にだん}活用{かつよう}動詞{どうし}, literally _lower two-step conjugation verb_.

    * The _lower_ part referred to the vowel that the stem ended in. _Upper_ verbs ended in _-i_ , and _lower_ verbs ended in _-e_.
    * The _two-step_ portion is more officially translated as _bigrade_ in many English-language references. This means that the stem vowel only has two forms. For a _lower_ verb, those vowels are _-u_ and _-e_.

So when _idu_ is conjugated into the 連体形{れんたいけい} or "attributive form", it
becomes _ideru_ -- stem of _ide-_ + attributive ending _-ru_. The _ide-_ part
is what we see in the historical development of 出{で}来{き}る. Over time, the low-
pitched initial _i-_ sound was lost (vaguely similar to how unstressed
syllables sometimes fall out in English), producing modern stem form _de-_.

  * 来{く} _ku_ was the original form of modern 来{く}る _kuru_. Much as happened with _nidan_ verbs, the attributive form replaced the previous 終止形{しゅうしけい} or "terminal form", adding that extra る that disappears in other conjugated forms. This same kind of development happened in verbs like 食{た}べる and 起{お}きる, which similarly have disappearing final る.

### Semantics

The original meaning was just what we would expect from this compound: 出{い}づ
"go out" + 来{く} "come" == "to come out". This was used literally, as well as
figuratively in the senses of "to appear, to become manifest".

The figurative sense then extended to express the general sense "to come into
existence anew", with more specific senses of "to occur, to happen, to be
born; to be created, to be made, to be set up; to be produced, to come to
fruition", and then "to be completed, to be finished (generally with positive
overtones)".

This idea of latent existence was further extended to mean one has the ability
to make or do something.

In slang contexts, it was even used to mean "to have sex", perhaps similar to
the development of the English phrases "to get it on, to get some".

### Timing

As to when the various senses developed, I have less information than I'd
like. The earliest citation in Shogakukan for the "able" sense is a quote from
the 鹿{しか}の巻筆{まきふで} published in 1686. The earliest citation for the "appear"
sense is from around the mid-1400s. However, these are all using the _dekiru_
form.

Looking at the older _dekuru_ form, Shogakukan provides a quote from around
the 1420s, using the "appear, happen" sense.

For the oldest _ideku_ form, we get quotes from the _Man'yōshū_ , all the way
from the very beginning of Japanese literature in any form, dating from
roughly the 300s through 700s. At the earliest stages of the term, the meaning
was apparently limited to "come out; appear". The "newly arise, happen, occur"
senses are cited to quotes from the early 900s ( _Tales of Ise_ ) and early
1000s ( _Tale of Genji_ ).

Digging through what I have here, it looks like the "able" sense is relatively
recent, appearing only from the early [Edo
period](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_period). The extension of meanings
over time, though, seems to be reasonably clear, and is consistently native to
Japanese -- 出来る did not derive from Chinese.

### Conclusion

  * _If this Japanese verb really did not come from the Chinese, how do the kanji characters for "to go out" and "to come" end up giving the nuance of potentiality in Japanese?_  
I hope the above answers this. Please comment with questions if things aren't
clear, and I can edit as needed.

  * _Can anyone find out authoritative sources on the actual etymology of_ 出来る?  
Shogakukan is reasonably authoritative, similar in ways to the reputation of
the _Oxford English Dictionary_ as a resource for English.

  * _Also, is the origin of_ 出来る _somehow related to_ 出来{しゅったい} _(meaning: occurrence) or_ 出来{でき} _(meaning: workmanship, execution etc)?_  
出来{しゅったい} originated as a phonetic shift from the expected _on'yomi_ of しゅつらい.
Both しゅったい and しゅつらい, as _on'yomi_ , are borrowings from Chinese. (Note that
not all _on'yomi_ terms are borrowings from Chinese, but most are.) Both terms
express meanings of "appear, occur", and "creation, completion" similar to
native-Japanese できる.  
The meanings for 出来{でき} derived in a similar fashion to the native Japanese
verb. _Dekiru_ == "to appear" > "to be created, to be finished", and from
this, noun _deki_ == "creation, finish" > "workmanship".
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