下二段活用

Japanese

Kanji in this term
下	二	段	活	用
しも Grade: 1	に Grade: 1	だん Grade: 6	かつ Grade: 2	よう Grade: 2
kun'yomi	goon		kan'on

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下二段活用

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Etymology

Compound of 下 (shimo, “lower”) +‎ 二段活用 (nidan katsuyō, “bigrade conjugation”).^[1]^[2]

Literally, 下二段 (shimo nidan, “lower bigrade”) refers to how the inflected endings are located in the gojūon table. 下 (shimo, “lower”) means the vowel e, which is written “below” the vowel i, the other inflection-related vowel. 二段 (nidan, “two grades”) means two vowels are involved, since each 段 (dan, “row”) of the table contains one vowel. Thus this can be understood as “two-voweled conjugation in e”.

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) しもにだんかつよー [shìmó nídáń káꜜtsùyòò] (Nakadaka – [6])^[2]
IPA^(key): [ɕimo̞ ɲ̟ida̠ŋ ka̠t͡sɨjo̞ː]

Noun

下(しも)二(に)段(だん)活(かつ)用(よう) • (shimo nidan katsuyō) ^{←しもにだんくわつよう (simonidankwatuyou)^?}

(Classical Japanese grammar) a verbal conjugation class with the following inflections: -e/-e/-u/-uru/-ure/-e[yo]

	未然形 Irrealis	連用形 Adverbial	終止形 Conclusive	連体形 Attributive	已然形 Realis	命令形 Imperative
得 (-, “to gain”)	得 (e)	得 (e)	得 (u)	得る (uru)	得れ (ure)	得 (e) 得よ (eyo₂ → eyo)
受く (uk-, “to receive”)	受け (uke₂ → uke)	受け (uke₂ → uke)	受く (uku)	受くる (ukuru)	受くれ (ukure)	受け (uke₂ → uke) 受けよ (uke₂yo₂ → ukeyo)
植う (uw-, “to plant”)	植ゑ (uwe → ue)	植ゑ (uwe → ue)	植う (*uwu → uu)	植うる (*uwuru → uuru)	植うれ (*uwure → uure)	植ゑ (uwe → ue) 植ゑよ (uweyo₂ → ueyo)

The subscripts in the table above indicate differences in vowel class that were already being lost in Old Japanese. It remains unclear what those different vowel classes may have meant. See the Syllables section in the Wikipedia article on Old Japanese for more details.

Usage notes

Verbs in this class are superseded in modern Japanese as transitive 下一段活用 (shimo ichidan katsuyō, “lower monograde conjugation”) verbs:
得(う) (u) → 得(え)る (eru, “to gain”)

受(う)く (uku) → 受(う)ける (ukeru, “to receive”)

植(う)う (uu) → 植(う)える (ueru, “to plant”)
Some verbs in this class also make way into modern Japanese as intransitive 五段活用 (godan katsuyō, “quinti grade conjugation”):
受(う)く (uku) → 受(う)かる (ukaru, “to pass (an examination)”)

植(う)う (uu) → 植(う)わる (uwaru, “to be planted”)

蹴(く)う (kuu) → 蹴(け)る (keru, “to kick”, via shimo ichidan conjugation)

Related terms

References

^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[KDJ-1] Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

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