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My question is from this sentence. It is from the "Easy Japanese" YouTube videos:

秋雨や我がすげみのはまだ濡らさじ

Why "nurasaji"? I would understand "mada nurasanai" - not yet wet - but why "ji"?

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    That's 'easy Japanese'? I think I'll give up now. I understand almost none of that sentence. Commented Apr 13, 2017 at 22:20
  • Please don't give up! I don't know that I would call the videos "Easy" - but the conversations are short, with real people, and the captions are in kanji, romaji, and english, and of course you can pause them. Disclaimer: not associated with the videos in any way.
    – dan
    Commented Apr 14, 2017 at 0:08
  • +1 for the haiku.
    – A.Ellett
    Commented Apr 14, 2017 at 5:36
  • Related / duplicate question: Why じと instead of ず in その機を逃さじと? Commented Feb 29, 2020 at 0:25

1 Answer 1

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じ is an archaic auxiliary, similar to まい describing negative volition.

http://www.hello-school.net/haroajapa009021.htm

So it's まだ濡らすまい or まだ濡らさないようにしよう in modern Japanese.

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  • thank you! This was driving me crazy! I've heard of the negative volitional so this helps!
    – dan
    Commented Apr 14, 2017 at 0:06
  • 語源的には、この「~じ」が「~まい」の古形「~まじ」の後半になっているようです。 Commented Mar 5, 2020 at 23:32

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