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What does the 奈 in 神奈川県 mean? I saw the term listed as what on Jisho. One
person sent me the definition of an altar and others say that it has no
meaning just a sound.
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2019-08-31T18:36:17.910
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2019-09-03T23:47:20.950
2019-09-01T11:24:21.697
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question
meaning kanji
What does the 奈 in 神奈川県 mean?
I adopt the hypothesis in the site [神奈川県 - 地名由来辞典](http://chimei-
allguide.com/14/000.html).

_この地に水源地が解からない川があり、「上無川（かみなしがわ）」と呼ばれていたため「神奈川」になったとする説。_ " _There were the
river with the water source was unknown called 上無川{かみなしがわ} changed into
神奈川{かながわ}._ "

And my hypothesis is there were not so many rivers in the past. Therefore,
they were often seeking the water source and found it important things. Then I
have decided to look up the number of rivers by prefectures.

According to the site [数字で見る「日本の自然資源」月刊事業構想
編集部](https://www.projectdesign.jp/201612/natural-treasure/003272.php),

There are rankings in the page:
**_日本全国で川の数は、35,260に上り、一級河川の総延長＊は88,000kmに及ぶ_**. 神奈川 is ranked No6 from the
bottom in it. 石川 is No5 from the bottom. 香川 is No2 from the bottom.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/K7aTx.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/K7aTx.jpg)

一級河川の指定区間と指定区間外の合計数値 出典）国土交通省、一級河川の河川延長等調 ＊都道府県別（平成27年4月30日現在)

And looking up the origin of [香川県 - 地名由来辞典](http://chimei-
allguide.com/37/000.html)
_古来より雨量が少なく、夏期に水枯れする河川が多かったことから、「かれかわ（枯川）」が転じて「かがわ」になったとする説。_ Since long time
ago, the amount of water is small. Therefore, there were many rivers dried up
in the summer. Probably 「かれかわ（枯川）」: _dried river_ changed into 香川{かがわ} because
of that.

石川県 seems a little bit different [石川県 - 地名由来辞典](http://chimei-
allguide.com/17/000.html). _県最大の河川である「手取川」は、上流から石を多く流すことから通称「石川」と言った。_.
手取川{てどりがわ}, the largest river in the prefecture. Since it sheds many stones
from upstream, it has changed so-called 石川{いしかわ} according to the [wikipedia :
手取川](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%89%8B%E5%8F%96%E5%B7%9D) This time, the
river was violent and needed to be paid attention.Prpbably That's why the
river was called like that.

For 神奈川, I guess you can't pick up only 奈{な} kanji element. Hence 神奈{かな} is at
least an ateji in 神奈川{かながわ}.
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2019-09-03T23:33:10.793
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2019-09-03T23:47:20.950
2019-09-03T23:47:20.950
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answer