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謝る、扱う、現れる、表す、諦める、争う、改める、…

Why are there so many verbs beginning with あ and with three kana kunyomi?

Is there some etymological reason for this? I can't imagine this is completely
incidental, though neither in Japanese, nor in English have I had any luck
finding an answer with Google.

_EDIT: Here's an elaboration why I'm asking:_

With verbs, the kunyomi part most commonly is one or two kana long.

Among the verbs with three kana kunyomi I find it surprising how often they
start with the kana あ.

This leads me to suspect that there might be a reason for this.

I am thinking of something like a past grammar feature where an あ was put in
front of a verb to signify something (like with 御{お}/御{ご}), which then got
absorbed into words where it was commonly used (similar to お風呂 or お金), and
with the grammar feature disappearing from use, the あ getting absorbed into
the kunyomi for those verbs, resulting in three kana kunyomi starting with あ.

If something like this existed or there is some other explanation, I would be
interested in hearing it, and if this simply is a coincidence, then so be it.
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verbs etymology readings
Why are there so many three kana kunyomi verbs beginning with あ?
# Why?

"Why" is seldom a useful question to ask when it comes to language and words
-- it is awfully broad. :)

To narrow the scope a bit, and to focus on the etymology that you mention,
let's look at the structure and derivation, and whether these words are
related at all.

_(Note: This gets long.)_

# Analysis tips

## Underlying word structure

You describe _" three-kana kun'yomi"_. It's important to recognize that
spelling is often not a useful lens when looking at Japanese derivations,
particularly of _kun'yomi_ , as kanji spellings obscure the structure of the
underlying word. For instance, all of your example terms are more than three
morae (a "[mora](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mora_\(linguistics\))" is one
"beat" in the rhythm of the word; if spelled entirely in kana, one mora = one
kana).

  * [謝る]{あやまる} = 4 morae
  * [扱う]{あつかう} = 4 morae
  * [現れる]{あらわれる} = 5 morae
  * [表す]{あらわす} = 4 morae
  * [諦める]{あきらめる} = 5 morae
  * [争う]{あらそう} = 4 morae
  * [改める]{あらためる} = 5 morae

## Divining the derivation: finding older forms

Here's your list of seven sample words. I'm including the historical kana,
since those older spellings reveal somethings, as well as my interpretation of
the underlying forms.

Modern kana | Historical kana | Underlying forms  
---|---|---  
あつかう | あつかふ | あつく* + ふ  
あらわれる | あらはれる | ある + ふ + れる  
あらわす | あらはす | ある + ふ + す  
あらそう | あらそふ | あら + す* + ふ  
あらためる | あらためる | あらた + む  
あきらめる | あきらめる | あきら + む  
あやまる | あやまる | あや + む  
  
## Divining the derivation: common suffixes

We see a number of common endings combined in different ways: ～ふ, ～す, and む,
and one ～れる. Let's look at these in turn.

### ～ふ

This is a [助動詞]{じょどうし}, often glossed as "auxiliary verb". These were very
productive in Old Japanese, and were used as suffixes to derive new senses
from existing verb roots. The auxiliary ～ふ was used to indicate a repeated or
ongoing action or state. [Here's the Kotobank
page](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%B5-614866) with entries from various
monolingual Japanese dictionaries.

The ～ふ auxiliary attached to the [未然形]{みぜんけい} or "irrealis form" (where
"irrealis" = "hasn't happened yet" or "hasn't completed yet"; see also
[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrealis_mood)) of a verb. This fits
for most of the cases above where we have ～ふ.

As a regular sound shift, medial (mid-word) //f// sounds (technically the
[bilabial consonant
[[ɸ]]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_bilabial_fricative), not the
[labiodental consonant
[[f]]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_labiodental_fricative) that we
have in English) shifted to //w// before //-a//, and generally vanished
otherwise. This is why we have things like [買う]{かう}, but also [買わない]{かわない}
with that //w// that appears -- this comes from older //kafu//. So the //f//
in ふ shifted and disappeared, so all the verbs that ended in ～ふ now end in ～う
instead.

⇒ If you see a modern verb that ends in ～う, it might be from this iterative /
repetitive / stative auxiliary ～ふ. Consider the meaning, and whether the part
before the ～ふ might be another verb in the [未然形]{みぜんけい} conjugation ending in
//-a//.

### ～す

This is ultimately cognate with the everyday verb する ("to do"), and the
causative endings ～させる・～せる. It serves to make a verb causative ("make
something do") or transitive ("do something to something else").

### ～む

This appears to be ultimately cognate with the everyday verb [見る]{みる} ("to
see") and noun [目]{め} ("eye"), and probably also the suppositional /
volitional auxiliary ～む that became the modern _-ō_ or _-yō_ ending, as in
[書こう]{かこう} or [食べよう]{たべよう}. The basic meaning in your sample verbs above is
something like "seems like, having that quality" in the intransitive form ～まる,
and "make something seem like, make something have that quality" in the
transitive form ～める.

### ～れる

This is from older ～る, possibly in turn cognate with ある ("is, to be"). The
basic sense is "happening spontaneously, or caused to happen by something
else", basically in line with the modern _-areru_ or _-rareru_ passive /
potential ending.

## Divining the derivation: each word

Let's look at each of the words in your sample list.

### あつかう from あつく* + ふ

This is described on Kotobank in [the _Kokugo Dai Jiten_ (KDJ)
entry](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%89%B1%E3%83%BB%E5%99%AF%E3%83%BB%E5%88%B7-2002469)
as derived from [熱い]{あつい}・[暑い]{あつい} ("hot"), from the idea of worrying oneself
about something. Consider the English expression "hot under the collar about
something". Over time, this shifted to "worry oneself about something and get
that something done", and from there to "getting something done", as in
"handling something". The ～ふ appears to imply ongoing or repeated action.

### あらわれる from ある + ふ + れる

This appears to be from ある ("to come into being") + ～ふ ("continuing or ongoing
state") + ～れる ("spontaneous action happening on its own"). Thus, "to be coming
into being on its own" → "to appear, to manifest".

### あらわす from ある + ふ + す

This is the causative / transitive counterpart to あらわれる, and appears to be
from ある ("to come into being") + ～ふ ("continuing or ongoing state") + ～す
("causative / transitive suffix"). Thus, "to make something come into being" →
"to make something apparent, to make something manifest" → "to reveal, to
show, to expose".

### あらそう from あら + す* + ふ

This appears to be ある ("to come into being") → あら (irrealis form, "not done
coming into being", i.e. "raw, rough, unrefined" → "rough") + ～す ("causative
or transitive suffix") + ～ふ ("continuing or ongoing state").

The ～す* here is more speculative. The expected form for ～ふ to attach would be
あらさふ, but the oldest texts (even as far back as 712) record this term as あらそふ.
There is a sound shift from //sau// to //sou// in Japanese, but that happens
much later. I have also noticed an apparently //-a-// ↔ //-o-// alternation in
various ancient vocabulary terms, where the //-a-// variant has nuances of
"external, outward, surface" and the //-o-// variant has nuances of "internal,
inward, inherent", and I wonder if this might be one such example.

We _can_ clearly point to almost-synonym あらがう, as referenced in the [語誌]{ごし}
section of the KDJ entry
[here](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%BA%89%E3%83%BB%E8%AB%8D-2003760), pointing
to the root あら～ as the start of the verb.

### あらためる from あらた + む

This is [新]{あらた} ("new") + ～む ("to seem like, to have that quality") in the
transitive ～める form ("to make something seem like, to make something have that
quality"). Thus, "to make something seem new, to make something have the
quality of new-ness" → "to renew", and by extension, "to improve something; to
correct something".

### あきらめる from あきら + む

This appears to be [明]{あきら} ("bright, clear, distinct, visible") + ～む ("to
seem like, to have that quality") in the transitive ～める form ("to make
something seem like, to make something have that quality"). Thus, the original
meaning may have been "to make something clearly visible", as described in the
Dajisen entry [here at Kotobank](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E8%AB%A6-573333).
I'm not sure how the modern "to quit" sense might have arisen; perhaps from
"make something clear" → "make one's intentions clear (to stop doing
something)" → "to quit"?

### あやまる from あや + む

This appears to be root あや as in [危うい]{あやうい} ("risky, dangerous") or
[危ぶむ]{あやぶむ} ("to worry that something is risky") or [怪しい]{あやしい} ("odd,
troublesome, vexing, irksome") + ～む ("to seem like, to have that quality") in
the intransitive form ～まる. According to the [語誌]{ごし} notes in the KDJ entry
[here at Kotobank](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E8%AA%A4-493470), the original
sense was something like "to draw close to peril", shifting from there to a
transitive sense of "to acknowledge one's mistake (in drawing close to peril)"
→ "to apologize".

# Conclusion: not all related, but some are

There is only a limited set of roots possible that start with あ, and these
roots appear in various derived terms that have developed over the years.

* * *

Please comment if the above does not address your question, and I can edit to
update.
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