83121
I came across the adverb すこぶる "greatly, extremely" and initially mistook it
for a godan verb.

This seemed to me an unusual 'shape' for an adverb -- what's the etymology of
this adverb, and are there other adverbs in Japanese ending in る?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-13T09:46:31.783
83066
2020-12-16T20:20:27.717
2020-12-13T19:46:45.093
816
816
question
etymology
What is the adverb すこぶる etymologically?
Did a quick google search, and there is a section about it
[here](https://eigobu.jp/magazine/sukoburu#heading-85800). For accessibility,
I will paste and translate the short passage here:

> 「すこぶる」は元々「少し、ちょっと、やや」という意味でした。
>
>
> 「すこし。すくなし」の語根「すこ」に、「大人ぶる」「ひたぶる」「もったいぶる」などで用いられている「それらしい様子をすること」を意味する「ぶる」がついたものが「すこぶる」です。
>
>
> 「ちょっと。ある程度」という意味が「相当。非常に」という意味に変化しました。意味が変化した理由については明らかになっていませんが、漢文訓読に用いられたことで混乱が生じたのではないかと考えられています。
>
> 「すこぶる」の意味は中世以降に変化しました。
>
> このように、「すこぶる」は方言ではなく、昔から使われていた大和言葉です。
>
> 基本的に「すこぶる」は「おおいに」という意味で使うので、現在は「少し、わずか」という意味では使いません。

**Translation:**

「すこぶる」used to mean the same thing as 「少し、ちょっと、やや」(which all mean "a little").

It takes the word root すこ from words like「すこし」and「すくなし」and appends ぶる to the
end. Like in the words 大人ぶる、ひたぶる、and もったいぶる, ぶる is used to mean "to behave
like a certain way".

Although it used to mean "a little" or "small amounts", the word has evolved
to mean "considerably" or "very". Although the reason for this change in
meaning is not very clear, it is believed that this might be a result of
confusion when interpreting from Chinese（漢文訓読: "Chinese writing Japanese
reading", "a Japanese reading of a Chinese passage"）.

The word 「すこぶる」changed during the Japanese Middle Ages.

「すこぶる」 is not dialectical and has been used as a native word.

Fundamentally, 「すこぶる」 is used to mean 「おおいに」and is currently not used to mean
「少し」or「わずか」.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-13T21:30:35.233
83074
2020-12-13T21:30:35.233
21657
83066
answer
日本国語大辞典 says:

> 【補注】「すこし」 「すくなし」などの語根に、「ひたぶる」などと同じ接尾語のついたものか。

The word seems to be quite old, with the first example in that entry being
from 984, so the certain etymology is likely quite unclear, but 日本国語大辞典’s
theory about an adverbial ぶる suffix seems quite plausible.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-13T21:31:08.987
83075
2020-12-13T21:31:08.987
3097
83066
answer
> What is the adverb すこぶる etymologically?

This word is a bit odd. Let's dive in.

Main sources:

  * 日本国語大辞典 (KDJ), 大辞泉 (DJS), as available via [Kotobank](https://kotobank.jp/)
  * [Gogen-Allguide](http://gogen-allguide.com/) (GA)

## Beginnings and meanings

The word is first cited to a text from 984, with a meaning of "a little bit,
not many / not much", as a synonym for 少【すこ】し.

Then, by 1135, it's cited with the completely opposite meaning of "an awful
lot, extremely".

Neither the [KDJ
entry](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%A0%97-597813#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)
nor the [DJS entry](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%A0%97%E3%82%8B-541549) have
anything useful to say about why this meaning shifted this way. The [GA
entry](http://gogen-allguide.com/su/sukoburu.html) mentions that the word was
used mostly in 漢文【かんぶん】訓読【くんどく】 contexts, and that some confusion may have
arisen somehow. (漢文【かんぶん】訓読【くんどく】: literally "Chinese text, meaning reading".
This means reading texts written in a form of Classical Chinese, but
pronouncing them in Japanese, even reworking the grammar to fit -- almost more
like [sight-
translating](https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+sight+translation)
Classical Chinese into Japanese.)

Exploring this shift in meaning, we see that the kanji 頗 has meanings of
"leaning to one side; biased" (like 偏る【かたよる】), or "very, extremely" -- see the
[Wiktionary entry](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%A0%97),
[WWWJDIC](http://nihongo.monash.edu/cgi-bin/wwwjdic?1MMC%E9%A0%97). Also,
older texts didn't always mark voicing, and some early attestations of すごい
show unvoiced すこい instead (such as adverbial form すこう in a quote from [_The
Tale of Genji_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Genji) dated around
1014, as listed in the [KDJ
entry](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%87%84-544416#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)).
I wonder if the すこ in すこぶる might have been confused somehow with the unvoiced
stem すこ of すごい?

At any rate, the "a little bit" meaning has been largely replaced by the "an
awful lot" meaning.

## Origins and derivations

That すこ stem of すこぶる is generally regarded to be the same すこ in 少【すこ】し, and
related to the すく in 少【すく】ない, as noted in the
[KDJ](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%A0%97-597813#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)
and [GA](http://gogen-allguide.com/su/sukoburu.html) entries.

The GA entry suggests that the ～ぶる on the end is the same ～ぶる in words like
大人【おとな】ぶる (verb, "to seem or behave like an adult"), もったいぶる (verb, "to seem or
behave like a big deal").

The KDJ entry likens this ～ぶる to the ～ぶる in ひたぶる (also spelled in kanji at 頓
or 一向; _-na_ adjective, "intent, single-minded, determined"). That entry also
has a note wondering if this might have been older ひたふる -- more on that
further below.

### What is this ～ぶる?

In すこぶる, the resulting term is an adverb.

In 大人【おとな】ぶる and もったいぶる, we wind up with verbs.

But then in ひたぶる, we have an adjective.

??!??

I suspect some of this might be related to Old Japanese / Classical Japanese
verb conjugations and how parts of speech were handled, and how conjugated
forms shifted over time.

  * すこぶる is first attested in 984 ([KDJ entry](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%A0%97-597813#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)).
  * 大人【おとな】ぶる as a verb is attested to the early 1500s ([KDJ entry](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%A4%A7%E4%BA%BA%E6%8C%AF-2017028)). 
    * It's also attested as a nominalized (noun) form of 大人【おとな】ぶ in [_The Tale of Genji_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Genji), dated around 1014 ([KDJ entry for 大人【おとな】ぶ](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%A4%A7%E4%BA%BA%E3%81%B3%E3%82%8B-453492#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))
  * もったいぶる as a verb is attested to the late 1700s ([KDJ entry](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%8B%BF%E4%BD%93%E6%8C%AF-2087929)).
  * ひたぶる is first attested as ひたふる in [_The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Bamboo_Cutter) around 900 ([KDJ entry](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%B8%80%E5%90%91%E3%83%BB%E9%A0%93-2077453)), with the adverbial construction ひたふるに. 
    * Notably, the 濁点【だくてん】 or 点々【てんてん】, the 〃 mark used to indicate voicing, is completely missing in many older editions, even from words known to have voicing like 浮【う】かぶ. Consequently, the kana spelling of ひたふる cannot be taken as evidence that this word was actually //hitafuru// instead of //hitaburu//.
    * The first clear adjectival use is in [_The Tale of Genji_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Genji), dated around 1014.

### Likely development of ～ぶる

I strongly suspect that the ～ぶる in all of these words arises from Old Japanese
"seems like, behaves like" suffix ～ぶ. _(Speculatively, I think this ～ぶ is
cognate with suppositional / volitional suffix ～む (the modern volitional _-ō_
verb ending), and with 見【み】る ("to see"), all arising from the same "see, seem,
look, look like" semantic root.)_

  * Looking at our ～ぶる terms above, this ～ぶ form is actually attested for 大人【おとな】ぶ.
  * The ～ぶ suffix conjugated using the [上【かみ】二段【にだん】活用【かつよう】](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%8A%E4%BA%8C%E6%AE%B5%E6%B4%BB%E7%94%A8) or "upper bigrade conjugation" pattern:

Form | Ending  
---|---  
**語幹【ごかん】  
Stem / Base** | ぶ  
**未然形【みぜんかい】  
Irrealis (hasn't happened yet)** | び  
**連用形【れんようけい】  
Continuative ( _-masu_ stem)** | び  
**終止形【しゅうしけい】  
Terminal (standalone)** | ぶ  
**連体形【れたいけい】  
Attributive (adjectival)** | ぶる  
**已然形【いぜんけい】  
Realis (as if it's happened)** | ぶれ  
**命令形【めいれいけい】  
Imperative (command)** | びよ  
  
  * We know that the 連体形【れんたいけい】 or "attributive form" of verbs in Classical and Old Japanese could be used its own as a nominal (noun), much like the modern construction `[VERB]` + こと or `[VERB]` + の [+は、が、を、に...].
  * Over time, the 上【かみ】二段【にだん】 or "bigrade" pattern underwent 一段【いちだん】化【か】 or "monograde-ization", producing the modern 上【かみ】一段【いちだん】 or "upper monograde" verbs we know today -- producing modern suffix ～びる, as we see in 大人【おとな】びる. ⇒ See also the [KDJ entry for ～びる](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%B3%E3%82%8B-614131#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).

So my take on this is that:

  * Old Japanese suffix ～ぶ ("seems like, behaves like") was added to various stems: the すこ～ in すこし, the noun 大人【おとな】, the noun もったい, the prefix (likely ancient noun?) 直【ひた】 (see the [KDJ entry](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%9B%B4-25740#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), and scroll down to or search for the 〘語素〙 section).
  * In various constructions, this suffix ～ぶ was conjugated into its 連体形【れんたいけい】 or attributive form ～ぶる.
  * For some words, the resulting form was re-analyzed grammatically as a nominal and had the に added to it to function adverbially.
  * All the _-na_ adjective uses appear later than the adverbial. We know that the ～な attributive used with modern _-na_ adjectives comes from ～なる, itself from older ～にある, which is adverbial に + attributive form ある of classical copula ("to be" verb) あり, making this a regular and somewhat expected development.
  * Later on, this ～ぶる for some words was again re-analyzed as a 四段【よだん】活用【かつよう】 or "quadrigrade conjugation" ending (same as modern "regular" or "consonant-stem" verbs), producing a verb. 
    * Modern suffix ～振【ぶ】る ("to seem like, to behave like") or ～振【ぶ】り ("seeming like, behaving like"), and non-voiced suffix ～ふり and standalone noun ふり of similar meanings, appear to be from this same ～ぶる -- the kanji 振 is ateji from homophonous verb 振【ふ】る ("to shake"), and doesn't seem to have anything to do with the actual derivation of the suffix.

These conjugations and grammatical shifts cover most of what we see so far.

### すこぶる as an adverb is still an outlier

Even considering the above, すこぶる is a bit exceptional, in that we don't see
any adverbial すこぶるに. The very first citation in [the KDJ
entry](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%A0%97-597813#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)
from 984 could arguably be interpreted as a regular adjectival use of an
attributive form:

> 「抑説き給ふ経の文について **すこふる** うたがひあり」

But the very first adverbial use from 1135 can't really be parsed that way --
it's just すこぶる stuck right onto a compound verb+adjective:

> 「此小身を観る者前想 **頗(スコフル)** 知り難し」

A quick-and-dirty survey of my local copy of Daijirin for all words ending in
～ぶる revealed many verbs, only one _-na_ adjective (ひたぶる), and only one adverb
(すこぶる).

Ultimately, language is nothing if not exceptional. すこぶる is described as used
most in 漢文【かんぶん】訓読【くんどく】 contexts, which means it wasn't an everyday word.
Rarely-used words are sometimes subject to strange shifts in meaning, as their
rarity means that speakers (or readers) will not be as familiar with the word,
and might re-interpret it depending on context. This might account for both
the flip-flop in meaning from "a little" to "a lot", and the adverbial usage
pattern.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-16T20:20:27.717
83121
2020-12-16T20:20:27.717
5229
83066
answer