Many Japanese words of Portuguese origin entered the Japanese language when Portuguese Jesuit priests and traders introduced Christian ideas, Western science, technology and new products to the Japanese during the Muromachi period (15th and 16th centuries).
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach Japan and the first to establish direct trade between Japan and Europe, in 1543. During the 16th and 17th century, Portuguese Jesuits had undertaken a great work of Catechism, that ended only with religious persecution in the early Edo period (Tokugawa Shogunate).
Many of the words which were introduced and entered the Japanese language from Portuguese and Dutch are written in kanji or hiragana, rather than katakana , which is the more common way to write loanwords in Japanese in modern times. Kanji versions of the words are ateji , characters that are "fitted" or "applied" to the words by the Japanese, based on either the pronunciation or the meaning of the word.
The † indicates the word is archaic and no longer in use.
Japanese Rōmaji | Japanese script | Japanese meaning | Pre-modern Portuguese | Modern Portuguese | English translation of Portuguese | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
† [1] anjo | アンジョ | angel | anjo | anjo | angel | Replaced in modern usage by 天使 (tenshi, literally "heavens" + "envoy"). |
† bateren | 伴天連 / 破天連 | a missionary priest (mainly from Jesuit) | padre | padre | priest | Used in early Christianity. For the sense of "Christian missionary", the modern term is 宣教師 (senkyōshi). |
battera | ばってら / ja:バッテラ | kind of sushi | bateira | bateira, barco | boat | named after its shape |
beranda | ベランダ | balcony | varanda | varanda | balcony | |
bīdama | ja:ビー玉 | marbles (spheric-shaped) | ---- | berlindes, bola-de-gude, bolinha-de-gude | marbles | abbrev. of bīdoro (Japanese: 'glass', also from Portuguese: see below) + tama (Japanese: 'ball'). |
bīdoro | ビードロ | vidro | vidro | glass | ||
bōbura | ボーブラ | (dialect) kabocha pumpkin [4] | abóbora [4] | abóbora | pumpkin | originally was in use nationwide, but replaced by kabocha in Edo (Tokyo). [5] |
birōdo | ビロード / 天鵞絨 | velvet | veludo | veludo | velvet | berubetto (from English velvet) is also used today. |
bōro | ja:ボーロ / ぼうろ | a kind of small biscuit or cookie | bolo | bolo | cake | |
botan | ボタン / 釦 / 鈕 | button | botão | botão | button | |
charumera | ja:チャルメラ | small double-reed wind instrument | charamela | charamela (caramelo, "caramel", is cognate) | shawm (cf. the cognate chalumeau) | formerly played in Japan by ramen vendors |
chokki | チョッキ | waistcoat (UK); vest (U.S.); Jacket | jaque | colete, jaqueta | waistcoat (UK); vest (U.S.); Jacket | Besuto (from English vest) is common today. |
† [1] Deusu | デウス | Christian God | Deus | Deus | God | Replaced in modern usage by the terms 天帝 (tentei, literally "heavens" + "emperor, king") or 天主 (tenshu, literally "heavens" + "lord, master"). |
† dochirina | ドチリナ | doctrine | doutrina | doutrina | doctrine | Replaced in modern usage by the terms 教理 (kyōri, literally "teaching" + "reasoning") or 教義 (kyōgi, literally "teaching" + "right conduct; righteousness; justice; morality"). |
furasuko | ja:フラスコ | laboratory flask | frasco | frasco | flask | |
hiryōzu, hiryūzu, hiryūsu | ja:飛竜頭 | filhós [7] | filhós | |||
igirisu | イギリス / 英吉利 | the United Kingdom | inglez | inglês | English (adj); Englishman | |
† [1] inheruno | インヘルノ | Christian hell | inferno | inferno | hell | Replaced in modern usage by the term 地獄 (jigoku, originally the term for Buddhist hells, still used in that sense as well). |
† iruman | イルマン / 入満 / 伊留満 / 由婁漫 | missionary next in line to become a priest | irmão | irmão | brother | Used in early Christianity. Replaced in modern usage by the term 助修士 (joshūshi, literally "assist" + "training" + "male person"). |
jōro | ja:じょうろ / 如雨露 | watering can | jarro | jarro | jug, watering can | "possibly from Portuguese" (Kōjien dictionary) |
juban/jiban | じゅばん / ja:襦袢 | undervest for kimono | gibão | – | undervest | The French form jupon led to zubon (trousers). |
kabocha | ja:カボチャ / 南瓜 | Camboja (abóbora) | (abóbora) cabotiá | Cambodia (-n pumpkin) | Was thought to be from Cambodia, [9] imported by the Portuguese. | |
kanakin/kanekin | 金巾 / かなきん / かねきん | shirting, percale | canequim | unbleached muslin/calico | jargon from the textile business | |
† kandeya | カンデヤ | oil lamp | candeia, candela | vela, candeia | candle | Extinct. Kantera from Dutch kandelaar was also used. Replaced in modern usage by the terms 灯火 (tōka, literally "lamp" + "fire, flame") or ランプ (ranpu, from Dutch lamp). |
† kapitan | 甲比丹 / 甲必丹 | captain (of ships from Europe in The Age of Discovery) | capitão | capitão | captain | Extinct. Replaced in modern usage by the terms 船長 (senchō, literally "ship" + "leader") or the English borrowing キャプテン (kyaputen). |
kappa | ja:合羽 | raincoat | capa | capa (de chuva) | raincoat, coat | reinkōto (from English raincoat) is prevalent nowadays. |
karuta | ja:かるた / 歌留多 | karuta cards, a traditional type of playing cards which is largely different from the modern worldwide ones | cartas (de jogar) | cartas (de jogar) | (playing) cards | |
karusan | カルサン | a specific kind of hakama trousers [10] | calção [10] | pt:calção | shorts (as used in modern Portuguese), breeches (as used in the Portuguese of the 1600s) | |
kasutera , kasutēra, kasuteira | ja:カステラ | Kind of sponge cake [11] | (Pão de) Castela | (Pão de) Castela | (Bread/cake of) Castile | Theories cite Portuguese castelo (castle) or the region of Castile (Castela in Portuguese). The cake itself may originally derive from bizcocho, a Spanish kind of biscotti. |
† kirishitan | ja:キリシタン / 切支丹 / 吉利支丹 (Also written in the more negative forms 鬼理死丹 and 切死丹 after Christianity was banned by the Tokugawa Shogunate) | Christian people in 16th and 17th centuries (who were severely persecuted by the Shogunate) | christão | cristão | Christian | Replaced in modern usage by the terms キリスト教徒 (Kirisuto kyōto, literally "Christ" + "teaching" + "student") or the English borrowing クリスチャン (Kurisuchan). |
kirisuto | キリスト / 基督 | Christ | Christo | Cristo | Christ | |
koendoro | コエンドロ | coriander | coentro | coentro | coriander | |
konpeitō | 金米糖 / ja:金平糖 / 金餅糖 | Kind of star-shaped candy | confeito | confeito | confection, candies | (related to confetti ) |
koppu | コップ | cup | copo | copo | cup | |
† [1] kurusu | クルス | Christian cross | cruz | cruz | cross | Used in early Christianity. Replaced in modern usage by the term 十字架 (jūjika, literally "number ten" + "character" + "stand up, prop up"). |
manto | ja:マント | cloak | manto | manto | cloak | |
marumero | ja:マルメロ | quince | marmelo | marmelo | quince | |
meriyasu | ja:メリヤス / 莫大小 | a kind of knit textile | medias | meias | hosiery, knitting | |
mīra | ミイラ / 木乃伊 | mummy | mirra | mirra | myrrh | Originally, mummies embalmed using myrrh. |
†nataru | ナタル | Christmas | Natal | Natal | Christmas | Annual festival celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Replaced in modern usage by the English borrowing クリスマス (Kurisumasu). |
oranda | オランダ / 和蘭(陀) / 阿蘭陀 | The Netherlands, Holland | Hollanda | Holanda, Países Baixos | The Netherlands, Holland | |
orugan | ja:オルガン | organ (music) | orgão | órgão | organ | |
pan | ja:パン | bread | pão | pão | bread | Often wrongly connected to the Spanish pan or the French pain, both with the same meaning and the same Latinate origin. The word was introduced into Japan by Portuguese missionaries. [12] |
† [1] paraiso | パライソ | paradise. Specifically in reference to the Christian ideal of heavenly paradise. | paraíso | paraíso | paradise | Replaced in modern usage by the terms 天国 (tengoku, literally "heavens" + "country") or the English borrowing パラダイス (paradaisu). |
pin kara kiri made | ピンからキリまで | running the whole gamut, jumble of wheat and tares | (pinta, cruz) | (pinta, cruz) | (dot, cross) | literally 'from pin to kiri' |
rasha | ja:ラシャ / 羅紗 | a kind of wool woven textile | raxa | – (feltro) | felt | |
rozario | ロザリオ | rosary | rosario | rosário | rosary | |
† sabato | サバト | Saturday | sábado | sábado | Saturday | Replaced in modern usage by the term 土曜日 (Doyōbi, literally "earth" + "day of the week"). |
saboten | ja:サボテン / 仙人掌 | cactus | sabão | sabão | soap | Indirect derivation, involving a pronunciation shift from earlier 石鹸手 read as sabonte, [13] literally "soap" + "hand; method, means". /sabonte/ → /saboten/ The derivation is said to come from the soap-like feature of its juice, although there are controversies. |
Santa Maria | サンタマリア | Saint Mary | Santa Maria | Santa Maria | Saint Mary | Saint Mary |
sarasa | ja:更紗 | chintz | saraça | chintz | ||
shabon | シャボン | soap | sabão | sabão | soap | More likely from older Spanish xabon. Usually seen in compounds such as shabon-dama ('soap bubbles') in modern Japanese. |
shurasuko | ja:シュラスコ | Brazilian style churrasco barbecue | churrasco | barbecue | Modern borrowing. | |
subeta | スベタ | (an insulting word for women) | espada | espada | sword | Originally a term from playing cards, in reference to certain cards that earned the player zero points. This meaning extended to refer to "a boring, shabby, low person", and from there to mean "an unattractive woman". |
tabako | タバコ / 煙草 / たばこ | tobacco, cigarette | tobaco | tabaco | tobacco, cigarette | |
totan | ja:トタン |
| tutanaga [14] : 補注(1) (Could be of other origin, as Nippo jisho implies. [15] ) | tutenag (a zinc alloy; zinc) [16] | The homophone "塗炭" is sometimes mistaken as an ateji for "トタン", but is actually a different word of native origin meaning "agony". [17] | |
tempura | ja:天ぷら / 天麩羅 / 天婦羅 | deep-fried seafood/vegetables | tempero, temperar; [18] [19] tempora | tempero, temperar; tempora | seasoning, to season; times of abstinence from meat | |
zabon | ja:ざぼん / 朱欒 / 香欒 | pomelo, shaddock | zamboa | zamboa | pomelo, shaddock | |
† [1] zesu or zezusu | ゼス, ゼズス | Jesus | Jesu | Jesus | Jesus | Replaced in modern usage by the term イエス (Iesu), a reconstruction of the Ancient Greek term. |
Japanese Rōmaji | Japanese script | Japanese meaning | Pre-modern Portuguese | Modern Portuguese | English translation of Portuguese | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
beranda | ベランダ | balcony | varanda | pt:varanda | balcony | Loanword from English "veranda", [20] which derived from India, which in turn probably originated from Portuguese : varanda. [21] |
Some word pairs that appear similar are actually false cognates of unrelated origins.
It is often suggested that the Japanese word arigatō derives from the Portuguese obrigado, both of which mean "Thank you", but evidence indicates arigatō has a purely Japanese origin, [22] so these two words are false cognates.
Arigatō is an "u"-sound change of arigataku. [23] In turn, arigataku is the adverbial form of an adjective arigatai, from older arigatashi, [24] itself a compound of ari + katashi. Written records of arigatashi exist dating back to the Man'yōshū compiled in the 8th century AD, [24] : (1) well before Japanese contact with the Portuguese in the 16th century.
Ari is a conjugation of verb aru meaning "to be", and katashi is an adjective meaning "difficult", so arigatashi literally means "difficult to exist", [24] hence "rare" and thus "precious", [24] : (3) with usage shifting to indicate gratitude for receiving an outstanding kindness. [24] : (5) The phrase to express such gratitude is arigatō gozaimasu, [23] : (イ) or arigatō for short. [23] : (ロ)
Japanese Rōmaji | Japanese script | English translation of Japanese | Supposedly similar Portuguese word | English translation of Portuguese | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
buranko | wikt:ぶらんこ | swing, swingset | balanço | swing | Not from Portuguese [25] [26] |
gan | wikt:雁 | wild goose | ganso | goose | Not from Portuguese [22] |
inoru (transcribed by Fonseca as inoriru, [22] erroneously. [27] ) | wikt:祈る | pray | orar | pray | Not from Portuguese [22] |
miru | wikt:見る | see | mirar | look [28] | Not from Portuguese [22] |
Tonkatsu is a Japanese dish that consists of a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet. It involves coating slices of pork with panko, and then frying them in oil. The two main types are fillet and loin. Tonkatsu is also the basis of other dishes such as katsukarē and katsudon.
Round-robin is a document signed by multiple parties in a circle to make it more difficult to determine the order in which it was signed, thus preventing a ringleader from being identified.
Ezo (蝦夷) is the Japanese term historically used to refer to the people and the lands to the northeast of the Japanese island of Honshu. This included the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, which changed its name from "Ezo" to "Hokkaidō" in 1869, and sometimes included Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The word Ezo means "the land of the barbarians" in Japanese.
Jugemu (寿限無/じゅげむ) is a famous rakugo story, a form of Japanese spoken entertainment. It has a simple story, with the most humorous part being the repetition of a ridiculously long name. It is often used in training for rakugo entertainers.
The Nihon kokugo daijiten (日本国語大辞典), often abbreviated as the Nikkoku (日国) and sometimes known in English as Shogakukan's Japanese Dictionary, is the largest Japanese language dictionary published. In the period from 1972 to 1976, Shogakukan published the 20-volume first edition. The 14-volume second edition was published in the period from November 2000 to December 2001. It includes substantial additions to and improvements over the first edition.
Japanese dictionaries have a history that began over 1300 years ago when Japanese Buddhist priests, who wanted to understand Chinese sutras, adapted Chinese character dictionaries. Present-day Japanese lexicographers are exploring computerized editing and electronic dictionaries. According to Nakao Keisuke (中尾啓介):
It has often been said that dictionary publishing in Japan is active and prosperous, that Japanese people are well provided for with reference tools, and that lexicography here, in practice as well as in research, has produced a number of valuable reference books together with voluminous academic studies. (1998:35)
The Amanojaku or Amanjaku is a demon-like creature in Japanese folklore.
An ōnusa or simply nusa or Taima is a wooden wand traditionally used in Shinto purification rituals.
Kuebiko (久延毘古) is the Shinto kami of folk wisdom, knowledge and agriculture, and is represented in Japanese mythology as a scarecrow who cannot walk but has comprehensive awareness.
Japanese words of Dutch origin started to develop when the Dutch East India Company initiated trading in Japan from the factory of Hirado in 1609. In 1640, the Dutch were transferred to Dejima, and from then on until 1854 remained the only Westerners allowed access to Japan, during Japan's sakoku seclusion period.
Hiba-Dogo-Taishaku Quasi-National Park is a Quasi-National Park that spans areas of Tottori Prefecture, Shimane Prefecture, and Hiroshima Prefecture, to the east of the island of Honshu, Japan. It was founded on 24 July 1963 and has an area of 78.08 square kilometres (78,080,000 m2). As its name suggests, the Hiba-Dogo-Taishaku Quasi-National Park is composed of a series of mountains and ravines in the middle of the Chūgoku Mountains. The park has virgin forests of Japanese beeches, Japanese oaks, Japanese horse-chestnuts and interesting ferns. Fauna include the Asiatic black bear, Japanese macaque, mountain hawk eagle and the Japanese giant salamander. Lake Shinryū is also a component of the park.
Japanese exonyms are the names of places in the Japanese language that differ from the name given in the place's dominant language.
The Toyo River is a river in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It flows into the Pacific Ocean.
Echigo Plain or Niigata Plain is an alluvial plain that extends from central to northern Niigata Prefecture in Japan. The area of the plain is approximately 2000km2. It is the largest rice-growing area in Japan. The plain was formed by the Agano and Shinano rivers.
The Shikoku Mountains are a mountain range that runs from east to west in the central part of the Shikoku in Japan. The length of the mountain range is about 250 km (160 mi). The highest peak in the mountain range is Mount Ishizuchi.
Kyushu Mountains is a mountain range that runs from northeast to southwest in central Kyushu.
Dewa Mountains is a mountain range that runs north and south on the west side of the Tohoku region of Japan. The mountain range spans Aomori, Akita, and Yamagata prefectures. The highest peak of the mountain range is Mount Chokai (2,236m).
Hōgetsu Shimamura was a Japanese critic, novelist and leader of Shingeki. His real name is Takitaro (滝太郎). He was born in Shimane Prefecture. He graduated from Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō. In 1902 he studied abroad in the United Kingdom and Germany. In 1906, he founded the Bungei Kyōkai with Tsubouchi Shoyo. He presided over Waseda Bungaku and was active in the naturalistic literary movement. In 1913, he established the Geijutsu-za theatre troupe with Sumako Matsui. His main works are Shinbijigaku (新美辞学), Kindai Bungei no Kenkyu (近代文芸之研究) and so on.
Hirata Kanetane was a Japanese scholar of kokugaku. He studied under Hirata Atsutane, and later became his adopted son and heir.
A gandō was a type of Japanese gyroscopic lantern invented in the early Edo period. Using a unique method of directional light projection, it was comparable in use to a modern flashlight. This type of lantern is also known as a shagandō.
Tǒtan. Tutunaga genero de metal branco.(Treating "Tǒtan" as a Japanese word, explaining its meaning with Portuguese word "tutunaga")
〘名〙 (擬態語「ぶらり」「ぶらん」などからできた語か。一説に、balanço からとも)
...[語誌](1)語源は柳田国男の唱えた「ブランとさがってゐるからである」〔ブランコの話〕というのが妥当か。
(2)「ブランコ」の語形はおもに明治以降と思われる。
揺れや振動を意味するポルトガル語の「balanço(バランソ)」に由来する説もある。
しかし、江戸時代には「ぶらんこ」のほか「ぶらここ」や「ふらここ」とも呼ばれており、「ぶーらんこ」「ぶらりんこ」「さんげぶらりん」などの呼称もあった。
擬態語からであれば「ブランコ」を含むこれらの呼称に通じるが、「バランソ」から「ふらここ」や「ぶらりんこ」に変化することは考え難い。