Consider the following pairs,

  * can hear: 聞ける (the potential of 聞く) and 聞こえる
  * can see: 見られる (the potential of 見る) and 見える

I am interested to know the etymologies of how some words have explicit
potential forms while other words do not have. What are their purposes? I
think it is redundant.

# Bonus

Is there any terminology used to refer to words having explicit potential
sense?
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2015-06-28T07:57:01.857
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2015-08-27T10:00:38.577
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question
etymology
Etymologically why do some words have explicit potential sense while others don't have?
見える and 聞こえる come from classical forms 見ゆ and 聞こゆ. These potentials would be
natural to those verbs, but they've survived past the originals' death.
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2015-06-28T09:37:05.947
25386
2015-06-28T09:37:05.947
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answer