Historical questions about kana that are no longer in common use.
10
votes
3answers
342 views
What does “齓” mean?
I've found this kanji during Shodo practice. My teacher (Japanese) didn't know the meaning (she recognized the Tooth bushu/radical but not the "word").
I tried to look it up on the electronic ...
8
votes
1answer
366 views
Why has を been spared but ゐ and ゑ been deemed obsolete?
According to When is the katakana form of wo (ヲ) used?-ヲ-used, を is almost always used only for the particle, and is usually pronounced o (お).
There are some dialects where を is pronounced with a ...
13
votes
5answers
404 views
Modern names of the obsolete kana ゑ and ゐ
In modern Japanese, the kana ゑ/ヱ (we) and ゐ/ヰ (wi) are largely obsolete. Words formerly containing them now are pronounced with /e/ and /i/, so they were replaced by え and い, respectively.
But when ...
13
votes
2answers
1k views
When did the “wu” character drop out of use?
In the last century, the ゐ and ゑ characters were eliminated from common use. But it seems like there used to also be a "wu" character that has since been lost. Given that it's a lot harder to find ...
5
votes
2answers
400 views
Can anyone explain the obsolete, non-phonetic use of hiragana from pre war times?
At university our most learned lecturer in Japanese once mentioned there were non-phonetic usages of hiragana at the end of kanji verbs and adjectives pre WWII. Apparently books printed prewar used ...
35
votes
1answer
846 views
Why were ゐ and ゑ eliminated?
Sometime in the early 20th century, usage of the now-historical kana ゐ and ゑ (and their katakana equivalents) dropped off, being replaced with い and え in modern Japanese. What exactly happened here ...
