flemmings: (Default)
flemmings ([personal profile] flemmings) wrote2005-08-17 11:40 am
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Confluences

As [livejournal.com profile] daegaer talks of Japanese pronouns and [livejournal.com profile] jttr posts scans of the new Gaiden....

OMFG will you *look* at how Goujun says 'you' to Konzen? Kiden. Written with the kanji for 'honourable' and 'lord, palace.' OK, OK, Goujun is punctilious indeed.

(To be borne in mind: army Goujun doesn't 'know' bureaucracy Konzen in any formal sense, hence polite usage, especially as he's trying to reason with the man. The J/J says 'male form of address to someone of equal (or lower) rank, used in letters' (J: now) 'meaning you (anata)'. Yet another of those polite circumlocutions that for once didn't descend into the gutter. Also FWIW he calls Kenren kimi at first meeting. Wish I could find my later eps to see what he says -if anything- after being taken hostage.)

And oh for a J/J dictionary that gives you earliest usages, as the OED does.

[identity profile] luxetumbra.livejournal.com 2005-08-17 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah ha. I assumed that the "Honorable Lord" also came parceled with polite verbs but obviously a leap too far. IGNORANCE STRIKES AGAIN! *clutches head*