61365
Is there a good historical/etymological explanation why 大きい and 小さい can take
the な ending in attributive position?

Also, is there a good historic/etymological explanation why 多い in attributive
use turns into 多くの-?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-22T10:56:44.760
60288
2018-09-07T01:18:00.010
30417
question
etymology classical-japanese old-japanese
Is there a good explanation for the forms 大きな, 小さな and 多くの?
I can answer your first question. If you think of it from a grammatical
perspective,

> 大きい

is used in sentences such as

> 大きいです。(It is large.) or 大きく書きます。(I will write it large.)

the word 大きい can be used at the end of the sentence or be connected to a verb.

On the other hand, 大きな can only be used to be connected to a Noun.

There is another difference that exists. The previous example does not quite
explain the difference, so this might help in that perspective. I will use
these two sentences to compare.

> 大きい木 (Large Tree) and 大きな木 (Large Tree)

The Japanese dictionary gives examples of 大きな.

> 大きな政府 (Large Government)
>
> 大きな影響を与える (Give a large effect)
>
> 大きな意味がある (t has a big meaning.)

If you look at the 大きい part of the dictionary, you will get:

> 大きい服 (Large clothes)
>
> 大きい体 (Large body)
>
> 大きい字 (Large words)

It looks like most Japanese use 大きな with more abstract concepts, and 大きい with
more objective or literal concepts.

I could not find much information about the second question, but here is a
grammatical explanation, if it helps.

多い and 多くの, is a special case adjective since it cannot be used before the
noun it describes. This sentence would not work:

> 多い 人(ひと[people]) が います。

Instead, you can use it after the noun.

> 人が 多い です。

So if you want to say many+noun in Japanese you use 多くの. 多くの人

I hope this helps. Please tell me if I can help by clarifying anything.

* * *

cr:

<https://www.nihongo-c.co.jp/blog/blog-entry-100.html>

<https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/17661>
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-06T04:59:34.527
61359
2018-09-07T01:18:00.010
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
30135
60288
answer
大きな is the 連体形 (attributive form) of an old na-adjective おおきなり, and only the
attributive form is used in the present day. 小さな, おかしな are also the same
thing. They are analyzed as pre-noun adjectivals.

The attribute form of 多い is 多い, but it alone isn't commonly used such as 多い車.
However 多い with a modifier can be used as the attribute form such as 外国人の多い学校.
多く is a noun, so when it modifies a noun, の is needed after a noun such as
お菓子の家.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-06T09:36:48.913
61365
2018-09-06T09:36:48.913
7320
60288
answer