0

I noticed this coincidence and I couldn't help wondering since other parts are based off of Chinese(kanji)

Improve this question
2
  • Note that the Chinese sound written as yu is actually ü in German ([[y]]) and not a set of a consonant and a vowel like you in English and ゆ in Japanese.
    – broccoli forest
    Dec 3, 2016 at 11:18
  • Yeah, I know :P
    – David C.
    Dec 4, 2016 at 12:27

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4

No, it's a coincidence. ゆ is over a thousand years old and is thought to be derived from 由. You can find a chart of the kanji that hiragana developed from on Wikipedia.

Mandarin yú is more recent and corresponds to Japanese 魚 gyo, both of which developed from Middle Chinese ngyo (where the digraph ‹ng› represents the nasal velar sound [ŋ], as in English ring). At the time ゆ developed, the sound was too different from yu to make this kind of connection.

Improve this answer
2

No.

Hiragana ゆ developed from the kanji character 由 (see for example this).

Japanese on-yomi reading of kanji 魚 is ぎょ and there is no relation to the Chinese yu.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .