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I speak Chinese as well as Japanese. In Chinese, the etymology for 明天 and 明日
are the same in written Chinese and spoken Chinese.

This got me curious about the etymology in Japanese. In written Japanese, 明日
is taken directly from Chinese. But where does the spoken word『あした』and『あす』come
from?
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2019-07-03T23:31:20.403
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2019-07-05T23:43:31.803
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question
words etymology chinese
What is the etymology of あした?
The **word** _ashita_ is purely Japanese. The **spelling** 明日 comes from
Chinese.

## A note about reading types

For any word where the reading is the 訓【くん】読【よ】み, the word itself as
pronounced is (almost always) from a native Japanese root. In these cases,
it's important to recognize that the spelling and the underlying Japanese word
are **independent** : the written form is from Chinese and was applied
(usually) without regard for any phonetic similarity between the spoken
Chinese form and the spoken Japanese form.

The Japanese word _ashita_ is one such example. This reading _ashita_ is a
訓【くん】読【よ】み from Japanese roots. 訓【くん】読【よ】み literally means _"meaning reading"_
, and comes from the Japanese perspective that "this Chinese spelling has this
meaning in Japanese".

The 明日 spelling also has two 音【おん】読【よ】み, _myōnichi_ and _meijitsu_ , both
ultimately from Middle Chinese //mˠiæŋ ȵiɪt̚// (though _meijitsu_ appears to
be a later borrowing, possibly influenced by a precursor to modern Min Nan
pronunciation //miâ-ji̍t//). 音【おん】読【よ】み literally means _"sound reading"_ ,
and is from the Japanese perspective that "this Chinese spelling has this
sound in Chinese".

## The derivation of _ashita_

This word has been around for a very long time, appearing already in the
_Man'yōshū_ and _Nihon Shoki_ of the early 700s, two of the oldest long-form
Japanese texts. It stands in close relation to the words _asu_ , _asa_ , and
_asatte_ , and all are likely cognates.

  * [_ashita_ (明日, more rarely 朝)](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%9C%9D%E3%83%BB%E6%98%8E%E6%97%A5-2001862#E7.B2.BE.E9.81.B8.E7.89.88.20.E6.97.A5.E6.9C.AC.E5.9B.BD.E8.AA.9E.E5.A4.A7.E8.BE.9E.E5.85.B8)  
Originally referred to _"morning"_ , more specifically _"dawn"_ when the night
has ended. Contrasted with 夕べ【ゆうべ】 _"evening, sunset"_. Over time, the sense
shifted from _"morning"_ in general, to _"the next morning from now"_ →
_"tomorrow"_.  
The phonetic development is lost to history, with no obviously clear roots.
More on that below.

  * [_asu_ (明日)](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%98%8E%E6%97%A5-424515#E7.B2.BE.E9.81.B8.E7.89.88.20.E6.97.A5.E6.9C.AC.E5.9B.BD.E8.AA.9E.E5.A4.A7.E8.BE.9E.E5.85.B8)  
In the earliest texts, such as the _Kojiki_ of 712, this word already referred
specifically to _"tomorrow"_.

  * [_asa_ (朝)](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%9C%9D-423925#E7.B2.BE.E9.81.B8.E7.89.88.20.E6.97.A5.E6.9C.AC.E5.9B.BD.E8.AA.9E.E5.A4.A7.E8.BE.9E.E5.85.B8)  
Originally mostly synonymous with _ashita_ , although _asa_ never developed
the same _"tomorrow"_ sense. _Asa_ was also used in many compounds and less
often on its own, whereas _ashita_ was a standalone noun.

  * [_asatte_ (明後日)](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%98%8E%E5%BE%8C%E6%97%A5-424128#E7.B2.BE.E9.81.B8.E7.89.88.20.E6.97.A5.E6.9C.AC.E5.9B.BD.E8.AA.9E.E5.A4.A7.E8.BE.9E.E5.85.B8)  
_Asatte_ with the geminate (double) //tt// is a comparatively recent term,
only appearing in texts from the late 1600s. This evolved as a sound shift
from earlier _asate_. That form appears in texts from the late 900s, still
younger than the other terms in this list.  
Derivationally, this appears to be _asa_ + some suffix _-te_. Some sources
suggest that this word arose as a contraction, possibly of _asa_ + _sarite_ ,
the conjunctive _-te_ form of verb _saru_ (去【さ】る, _"to become that time"_ ).

User Nanigashi commented with a link to [Gogen Allguide](http://gogen-
allguide.com/). While that site is good for some terms, its entries also
include speculation that doesn't conform to known patterns of Japanese
phonetic shifts, and [their entry for _ashita_](http://gogen-
allguide.com/a/ashita.html) is one such problematic entry.

Gogen Allguide suggests that _ashita_ somehow derives from _ake_ (in reference
to "dawn" as the "opening of the day") + _shida_ ("time", a rare ancient
Eastern Old Japanese word). However, there is no known and accepted mechanism
whereby the _-ke_ would simply vanish, nor is there any clear reason for the
_shida_ to become unvoiced _shita_. It is also a bit odd for a rare Eastern
Old Japanese word to become the basis for a modern mainstream Japanese word;
ancient Eastern dialect forms generally weren't adopted into the mainstream
vocabulary.

One clear commonality in all of these terms is the initial _as-_ , which
appears to be a root form. Interestingly, adjective 浅【あさ】い, which usually
means _"shallow"_ , also has a sense of _"not much time has passed: still
early"_. While the exact mechanics for deriving _ashita_ from this
hypothetical _as-_ root remain unclear, I think this adjective is probably a
cognate with these various _"morning"_ terms.

* * *

If the above does not address your question, please comment and I can update.
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2019-07-05T23:43:31.803
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2019-07-05T23:43:31.803
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answer