富士

Etymology

From Japanese 富士 (Fuji).

Pronunciation

Proper noun

富士

1. (～山) Mount Fuji
2. (～市) Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
3. Fuji, a Japanese company

Etymology

From Old Japanese, first attested in the Hitachi-no-kuni Fudoki (721 CE). The etymology continues to be debated, but there is wide acceptance of an origin from Ainu フヂ (fuji, “[goddess of] fire”), which is commonly associated with volcanoes by the Ainu people.^[1]

Alexander Vovin (2017) proposes a derivation from 火 (pu, “fire”, Eastern Old Japanese term and hapax legomenon encountered only once in any ancient source,^[2] inferred as equivalent to Western Old Japanese combining form ho and standalone form hi) +‎ 主 (nushi, “master”):^[3]

*⟨pu nusi⟩ → */punusi/ → */punsi/ → /puzi/ (the form found in ancient texts like the Man'yōshū) → /fuʑi/

The current kanji spelling possibly relates to a folk etymology of 富 (fu, “abundant”) + 士 (shi, “soldiers”) climbing the mountain. Multiple other folk etymologies exist, such as 不死 (fushi, “immortal”). All the folk etymologies rely on on'yomi readings, a trait that Vovin finds unsatisfactory due to the reliance on Chinese morphemes to spell an ancient Japanese placename.

Pronunciation

• On’yomi
  • (Tokyo) ふ​じ [fúꜜjì] (Atamadaka – [1])
  • IPA^(key): [ɸɯ̟ᵝʑi]

Proper noun

富士 (hiragana ふじ, rōmaji Fuji)

1. short for 富士山 (Fujisan, “Mount Fuji”)
2. a city in Shizuoka Prefecture
3. a surname

References