Wu (kana)

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Character of the Japanese writing system
wu
hiragana
japanese hiragana wu		 katakana
japanese katakana wu
transliterationwu
hiragana origin汙/于
katakana origin汙
unicodeU+1B11F, U+1B122
kana gojūon
warayamahanatasakaa
wiri(yi)mihinichishikii
(wu)ruyumufunutsusukuu
were(ye)mehenetesekee
woroyomohonotosokoo
n
Kana modifiers and marks
  • sokuonfu (gemination)
  • yōon (palatalization)
  • chōonpu (vowel lengthener)
  • Iteration marks
  • dakuten/handakuten (voiced & semi-voiced marks)
Multi-syllabic kana
  • iu
  • kashiko
  • koto
  • sama
  • shite
  • toki
  • tomo
  • nari
  • mairasesoro
  • yori
  • v
  • t
  • e

Wu (hiragana: 𛄟, katakana: 𛄢) is a hentaigana, a variant kana or Japanese syllable.[1]

History

It is presumed that 𛄟 would have represented /β̞u/.[2][a] Along with 𛀆 and 𛀁 (yi and ye respectively), the syllable wu has no officially recognized kana, as these syllables do not occur in native Japanese words; however, during the Meiji period, linguists almost unanimously agreed on the kana for yi, ye, and wu. 𛀆 and wu are thought to have never occurred as syllables in Japanese, and 𛀁 was merged with え and エ.

Characters

In the Edo period and the Meiji period, some Japanese linguists tried to separate kana u and kana wu. The shapes of characters differed with each linguist. 𛄟 and 𛄢 were just two of many shapes.

They were phonetic symbols to fill in the blanks of the gojuon table. Japanese people didn't separate them in normal writing.

  • u
    • Traditional kana
      • う[3] (Hiragana)
      • 𛀋[4] (Hentaigana of う. Hiragana.)
      • 𛀍[5] (Hentaigana of う. Hiragana.)
      • ウ[6] (Katakana)
    • Constructed kana
      • [7] (A part of 傴. Katakana.)
  • wu
    • Traditional kana
      • う[8] (Hiragana)
      • 𛀋[9] (Hentaigana of う. Hiragana.)
      • ウ[10] (Katakana)
      • 𛄢[11][12] (An old variant form of ウ. Katakana.)
    • Constructed kana
      • う〻[13](う with dots. Hiragana.)
      • 𛄟[14] (A cursive script style of 汙.[1] Hiragana.)
      • [15] (A cursive script style of 紆. Hiragana.)
      • [16] (A cursive script style of 迂. Hiragana,)
      • [17] (A cursive script style of 卯. Hiragana.)
      • ウ〻[18](ウ with dots. Katakana.)

These suggestions weren't accepted.

Unicode

This kana has been encoded into Unicode 14.0 since September 14, 2021 as HIRAGANA LETTER ARCHAIC WU (U+1B11F), and KATAKANA LETTER ARCHAIC WU (U+1B122).

Notes

  1. ^ /β̞/ corresponds to what is typically represented as /w/ in modern Japanese, which is still phonetically a bilabial approximant.

References

  1. ^ a b Iannacone, Jake (2020). "Reply to The Origin of Hiragana /wu/ 平仮名のわ行うの字源に対する新たな発見"
  2. ^ Gross, Abraham (2020-01-05), Proposal to Encode Missing Japanese Kana (PDF), p. 1
  3. ^ 綴字篇
  4. ^ 村山自彊; 中島幹事 (1891). 仮名遣. 開新堂. p. 19.
  5. ^ 音韻啓蒙 : 2巻. 上巻
  6. ^ 綴字篇
  7. ^ 音韻啓蒙 : 2巻. 上巻
  8. ^ 音韻啓蒙 : 2巻. 上巻
  9. ^ 日本新文典
  10. ^ 音韻啓蒙 : 2巻. 上巻
  11. ^ 綴字篇
  12. ^ 有賀長隣. 片仮名元字. p. 4.
  13. ^ 小学日本文典入門. 巻之1
  14. ^ 綴字篇
  15. ^ 綴字篇
  16. ^ 国語仮字つかい
  17. ^ 辞礎
  18. ^ 小学日本文典入門. 巻之1

See also

  • Yi (kana)
  • Ye (kana)
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