すっからかん, あっけらかん, and the supposed (adverb) suffix かん

Question

すっからかん is usually theorized to come from すっかりから, or a corruption/change in pronunciation from a weird amalgamation of a Chinese phrase. However, あっけらかん is an adverb, and while あっけら has similar origins as すっから/すっかり, what かん means is just unknown and just presumed to be a suffix. Is there any theories for what かん could come from, apart from から. Also all these phrases have to do with emptiness/holes.

Answer 1

I love etymologies, and I was curious about these words, so I dived in. 😄

Here's what I've found. My main source is the 日本国語大辞典【にほんこくごだいじてん】 (NKD), similar in quality to the OED for English. My links are to Kotobank, an online dictionary and encyclopedia aggregator site that includes the NKD.

• あっけらかん is an adverb that shows up first in 1867, apparently as a shift from あけらかん, from あけら + かん.

  • The あけら portion doesn't seem to be attested as an independent term, but the existence of separate term あけらけ and the definition of あっけらかん as something like "open-mouthed and dumbstruck" implies a relation to あける (be it "to open" or "to gape" or "to be empty", all seem to apply in various degrees). The ら is likely derived from the common stative element found in many older Japonic-derived -na adjectives, such as きよらか or やすら.
  • The かん might be derived from the sound effect term, alluding to a bell or something else large and empty being struck. The implication could be "empty-headed like a bell".

• すっかり first appears in the late 1500s as an adverb. This is described as arising in a similar kind of fortition shift from すかり, itself cited to the early 1600s but also part of a cluster of adverbs all containing the element すか-, including also すかすか (1200s) and すかっと (1920s), probably also verb すかつく (1700s). The underlying meaning common to all of these seems to be "easily moving through". I wonder if this might be related too to verb すく (of many spellings, senses include "to go through; to open up; to become empty; to plow through", etc.).

• すっからかん is shown as a single thing rather than a compound (no hyphens in the headword), cited first to 1926. I cannot find any independent term すっから, nor can I find any term すっかりかん. I suspect that this すっからかん was coined along similar lines to あっけらかん. This could be analyzed as a portmanteau or blend, combining the words すっかり, から (in the sense of "empty") and あっけらかん.

In all of that, I find no mention of any derivation from すっかりから (phonologically difficult), nor any mention of Chinese phrases. Nor does あっけら seem to have any derivational similarities to すっかり beyond the fortitional shift (adding that small っ).

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I hope the above answers your questions. If not, please comment and I can edit as appropriate.