Does anyone know the etymologies of the particles は、が、の? I have done extensive searching and have found plenty of explanations of how to use them, but hardly anything about how they were derived. Cognitive linguistics posits that all words and expressions in language have their roots in actual spatial observations that have been abstracted and combined to form new idea. I have found that looking up the etymologies for words until they reach the original spatial concepts they came from to be really useful in understanding what words they actually mean (for example ‘to’ originated from a word meaning ‘in the direction of’, then evolved to mean ‘for the purpose of’, and ‘furthermore’. From the sense of ‘purpose’ it began to be used to mark the indirect object of sentences, including verbs in Middle English, before it was no longer used with verbs, leaving modern English with ‘to’ being used to mark infinitives (to | Search Online Etymology Dictionary)).
So far, I have:
- が was originally the genitive case marker in classical Japanese, like の is now in modern Japanese. It was originally imported from the Ryukyuan languages into ancient Japanese.
- 之 and 乃 were both used to represent の at some point. The first depicts short step, indicating something close but also outward motion, whereas the second could be translated at from. This makes sense for の being used possessively, as something originating from some can indicate possession or makeup, in much the same way that ‘of’ can times used for possession in English (as in 'the house of Bob = Bob’s house, a house which originates from Bob implying that it belongs to him), or ‘de’ in Spanish.
- は originally expressed deep emotion then shifted to its current usage. (https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1310305708)
From this I wonder how specifically が differs from の. I think it also includes the concept of outward motion from an origin like の, but unlike の, retains the perspective of the attached object instead of shifting to the object being described. For example, 綾子の猫 shifts outward from Ayako to focus on cat, creating Ayako’s cat - Ayako is just a descriptor. However, 綾子が猫 (though this is a rather odd sentence) shift outward from Ayako while focusing on Ayako, giving Ayako is a cat. This would seem to fit with the explanatory usage of の and the contrastive usage of が when placed at the end of a sentence. Since の indicates outward motion from the source, it indicates that the sentence before it is the origin from which the outcome emerges. For the same reason, が indicates a contrast - what occurs afterward is connected to が, but because the ‘focus’ at least partially remains on が, both parts of the sentence are compared (though not always, it can be, as occurs in Japanese, that が just links the two while keeping both relevant, functioning as a linking ‘and’ rather than a contrastive ‘or’). Is this correct? I can’t find an etymology of が so I can’t be sure.
For は it seems to show that the attached object has a deep, personal connection to the following object. It also makes the attached object be used descriptively, focusing on the following objects instead of the attached objects. I think it also represents a very specific/personal categorization/trait of an object, containing the following objects almost uniquely within the scope of the attached objects, explaining why は is used for observations, personal statements, contrast (if something is within one category, it probably isn’t within another), and emphasis (extension of the usage as a contrast marker). My main question here is what is the direction of motion for は? Does it connect the attached objects to the following objects or the following objects to the attached objects? Regardless of the direction it seems to me that は forces its attached object to function as a trait by putting it ‘inside’ the following objects. Also was a 漢字 ever used to express the concept は represents?
教えてください. I would try asking this in Japanese on some forum somewhere but the complexity of what I’m asking for goes beyond my current Japanese ability.
Bonus points: what is the etymology of を?
