The Etymology of Kami
T im othy J. VANCE
M A N Y autho rs w r itin g in English on Japanese re lig io n or
c u ltu re have a tte m p te d to explain the m eaning of the w ord
ka m i 神 to readers in some d e ta il. The obvious reason fo r
th is is th a t E nglish tra n s la tio n s such as "g od" or "d e ity " are
lik e ly to be m isleading unless supplem ented by some such
e xp la n a tio n .
In the past it was not unusual fo r such explana tions to
in clu d e in fo rm a tio n about the etym ology o f the w ord in the
hope th a t th is w ould help readers understand how it came
to have the meaning i t has. In the la s t few decades, how ­
ever, e ty m o lo g ic a l explana tions have become in creasingly
hard to fin d . This paper w ill ske tch the reason fo r aban­
doning the most popular e ty m o lo g ic a l e x p la n a tio n and tra c e
the p e c u lia r path by w hich th is know ledge found its way
in to W estern scholarship.
As D. C . H oltom (1940) has pointed o u t, by fa r the most
w id e ly a ccepted etym oloav fo r "k a m i" was th a t it derived
fro m the w ord kam i 上 ，m eaning "a bo ve." C onsider the fo l­
lo w in g exam ple, from a p ostw ar book on Japanese re lig io n :
K am i is a w ord w ith such a v a rie ty o f meanings th a t no
a c c u ra te d e fin itio n o f it can be given.
The lite r a l
tra n s la tio n o f the c h a ra c te r by w hich it is represented
is "a b o ve ," and i t is g e n erally used to im ply s u p e rio rity
(Bunce 1955, pp. 99-100).
The w r ite r here has confused the issue by suggesting th a t
the c h a ra c te r 上 , w h ich means "a b o v e ," is used to w rite
the w ord kami meaning "g o d ," but in any event it is reason­
I w ould lik e to th a nk my good frie n d Ito H iro ko o f Sagami 3oshi Daigaku
fo r th e tim e and tro u b le she to o k to lo c a te a copy of Y am am oto's book fo r
me. T his paper could not have been w r it te n w ith o u t her generous help. I
w ould lik e to also no te th a t tra n s la tio n s from Japanese sources in th is
paper are a ll my own w o rk .
J a p a n e s e J o u r n a l of Religious Stu dies 10/4
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277
Timothy J .
VANCE
ably c le a r th a t the reader is supposed to understand the
meaning "go d '1 as being d erived fro m the idea o f "above."
O th e r authors who have made this same claim —some more
c le a rly than o th e rs —inclu d e L a fc a d io Hearn (1904, p. 54),
G• 巳. Sansom (1931 ，p. 25), and R u th B e n e d ict (1946, p. 127).
H o lto m !s a r tic le was based to a large e x te n t on w o rk
by Yam am oto N obuya,1 and Yam am oto (1933, p. 36) c ite s a
s ix te e n th c e n tu ry w o rk by Yoshida K anetom o as the
e a rlie s t source fo r the "k a m i/a b o v e " e tym o lo g y. The etym o­
logy has been accepted by o th e r Japanese scholars, in c lu d ­
ing A ra i H akuseki， Kam o no M abuchi and Ise Sadatake
(H oltom 1940, pp. 17-18). H oltom (1940, pp. 19-20) tra ce s the
spread o f the etym ology in to W estern scholarship via the
w o rk o f Basil H all C ham berlain and W .G . Aston.
In spite o f its long h is to ry and the s ta tu re o f its propo­
nents, how e ver, the "k a m i/a b o v e " e tym ology has all but
disappeared fro m w orks on Japanese re lig io n . The reason is
sim ply th a t it is, beyond any reasonable doubt, in c o rre c t.
As a re s u lt, e ty m o lo g ic a l expla n a tion s g e n e ra lly no longer
appear at a ll, since none o f the o th e r proposed etym ologies
has ever had much support.
It is ap p a re n tly H oltom who deserves the c re d it fo r
fir s t m aking English speaking readers aware o f the doubt
th a t Japanese p h ilo lo g ic a l studies has cast on the etym o­
lo g y, and i t is in s tru c tiv e to com pare the d e fin itio n o f
"k a m i11 in a re ce n t book on Japanese re lig io n by H. Byron
E a rh a rt (1982, p. 8) w ith the 1955 d e fin itio n quoted above.
E a rh a rt makes no m ention of e ty m o lo g ica l connectio ns or
o rig in a l meanings, and i t is surely no a c c id e n t th a t he lis ts
H o lto m !s a r tic le in his a nnota ted b ib lio g ra p h y (E a rh a rt
1982 ，p. 236).
Not s u rp ris in g ly , h ow ever, H o lto m ’s a r tic le did not
achieve its e ffe c t o v e rn ig h t. Even as la te as 1973, a t least
one autho r appears to have subscribed to the etym ology:
"The very w ord kam i has the c o n n o ta tio n o f "u p p e r" or
1 . Hol t om (19 ^0 , p. 5) c ite s the give n name as "N o b u k i," b u t th is is a p p ar­
e n tly an e rro r.
278
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The E t ymol og y of Kami
"a b o v e /1 and not th a t of "tra n s c e n d e n t" (V a rle y 1973, p. 6).
The use here o f the w ord "c o n n o ta tio n ,” how ever, makes
th is s ta te m e n t som ewhat d if f ic u lt to in te rp re t.
It is also in te re s tin g to compare the d e fin itio n s of kami
in the 1969 and 1979 e d itio n s o f the E n cyclo p e d ia B iita n n ic a ：
… kam i, usually tra n s la te d as "gods'1 or "d e itie s " but
m eaning "a b o ve ," "s u p e rio r，
M or d iv in e " ...(1 9 6 9 ).
• • • ka m i
(1979).
means
"m y s tic a l,"
"s u p e rio r,"
or
" d iv in e "
...
A lth o u g h the d iffe re n c e betw een these tw o d e fin itio n s is
sm all, i t is s ig n ific a n t. The absence o f "above" in the
second d e fin itio n is p a rtic u la rly n o te w o rth y .
AT THIS p o in t it seems a p p ro p ria te to consider e x a c tly
w h a t led to the re je c tio n o f the e ty m o lo g ic a l id e n tific a tio n
o f "k a m i/g o d " w ith "k a m i/a b o v e ." The e n try fo r "k a m i/g o d "
in Nihon kokugo dsJjLten w ill serve as a s ta rtin g p o in t. This
reads in p a rt as fo llo w s :
S upplem entary N ote: The th e o ry th a t the o rig in of kami
["g o d 11] is kami ["a b o v e "] was once p re v a le n t, b u t since
the m i o f kami [ !,god,f] is o f the kd typ e , whereas the
m i o f kami ["above*'] is o f the o tsu typ e , th e y are
th o u g h t to be d iffe r e n t words.
The Japanese words "k o " and "o ts u " are used to give
a r b itr a r y labels to things to keep them separate.
The
expressions "ty p e A " and "ty p e B" m ig h t be p re fe ra b le to
nko ty p e " and "o tsu ty p e ” in an E nglish te x t, but Mko lf and
no tsu " are u su ally re ta in e d unchanged in E nglish discussions
o f th is p a rtic u la r to p ic . In order to understand w h a t they
re fe r to it is necessary to consider how the Japanese
language was w r itte n during the Nara period.
The p o e try c o lle c tio n M an’yDshD and o th e r documents
o f the N ara p eriod w ere w r itte n in Chinese ch a ra cte rs used
fo r th e ir p h o n e tic values, now re fe rre d to as nman!y6gana,"
The m an'yogana system was the fo re ru n n e r o f the modern
J a p a n e s e J o u r n a l of Religious S tu d ies 10/4
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279
Timothy J .
VANCE
hirag an a and ka ta k a n a ；each Chinese c h a ra c te r in the
system re prese nte d one Japanese sylla b le . The meanings of
the c h a ra c te rs w ere co m p le te ly irre le v a n t, and only th e ir
sound values w ere im p o rta n t.
One fe a tu re o f the m an'yogana system w h ich d iffe r e n ­
tia te s i t in an im p o rta n t way from hiragana and katakana is
th a t each Japanese s y lla b le could be represente d by any
one of several Chinese c h a ra c te rs . F or exam ple, any of the
c h a ra c te rs 加 ， 可 ， 賀 ，or 迦 could be used to w rite the
s y lla b le ka.
The p ro n un cia tion s o f the syllables w r itte n in m anfyogana can be de term ined by f ir s t using the a va ila b le
evidence to d e te rm ine how the c h a ra c te rs w ere pronounced
in the Chinese o f the tim e .2 Since the w rite rs o f Japanese
d uring the Nara period presum ably chose ch a ra cte rs w ith
(Chinese p ro n u n cia tio n s as close as possible to the p ro n u n ci­
a tio n s of the Japanese syllab les they wished to render, it is
thus possible to d e te rm ine w ith a fa ir degree o f accuracy
the p ro n u n c ia tio n o f each s y lla b le in Nara period Japanese.
Though th is is tru e in th e o ry , in fa c t it was not u n til the
tw e n tie th c e n tu ry th a t anyone a c tu a lly w e n t through this
p a in sta kin g process. One reason is sim ply th a t the s o p h isti­
ca te d techniques necessary to d e term ine the contem porary
p ro n u n c ia tio n o f Chinese w ere not developed u n til the
n in e te e n th c e n tu ry . A n o th e r reason is th a t modern ideas
about h is to ric a l change in languages are also the re s u lt of
n in e te e n th -c e n tu ry scholarship.
The real im petus fo r going through th is process, how ­
eve r, was provided by a trem endously e x c itin g d iscovery.
U n til th is c e n tu ry th ere seemed to be no reason to doubt
th a t the m an'yogana represented the same set o f syllables
w h ic h Heian p eriod a uth ors w ro te w ith the n e w ly -in v e n te d
hiragana and katakana . In the e a rly p a rt o f th is ce n tu ry,
how e ve r, i t became c le a r th a t the number o f d is tin c t
sylla b le s represented by the m an'yogana system was la rg e r
E x a c tly how th is is done is ou tsid e the scope o f th is paper, b u t the
in te re s te d reader can fin d d e ta ils in Lange 1973, pp. 3な一な7; pp. 71-98.
28 0
J a p a n e s e J o u r n a l of Religious S tu d ies 10/4
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The Et ymol og y o f Kami
than the number represented by hiragana or katakana. In
o th e r w ords, Nara period Japanese had more d is tin c t s y l­
lables than did H e 丨
an period Japanese.
M o to o ri Norinaga (1730-1801), the famous N ational
L e a rn in g scholar of the Edo period, la id the fo u n d a tio n fo r
th is d isco ve ry. He studied the use of m an'yogana in Nara
p eriod w o rk , e sp e cia lly K o jik i，and n o ticed some p e c u lia ri­
tie s in the d is trib u tio n of some of the Chinese c h a ra cte rs.
A single exam ple should serve to c la r ify the e xa ct nature
o f these p e c u lia ritie s .
I w ill draw my exam ple fro m the modern Japanese
words sode ("sle e ve ") and sono (" th a t" ) . When w r itin g these
words in hiragana the f ir s t s y lla b le of each w ould be w r it ­
ten as そ . Bot h "sode" and "sono" appear in Nara period
te x ts , as do many o th e r w ords co n ta in in g syllables w hich
w ould have been w r itte n w ith そ during the Heian period.
The set of m an'yogana used to w rite sylla bles w h ich were
la te r represented w ith そ inclu d e 素 , 繇 , 則 , 所 , 曽 and
增 .3
This was a c tu a lly tw o m u tu a lly e xclu sive sets, how ever,
and not sim ply a set of six inte rch a n g e a b le c h a ra c te rs . The
s y lla b le corresponding to w h a t was la te r w r itte n as そ in
any g iven w ord could only be w r itte n w ith ch a ra c te rs from
one set or the o th e r. The fir s t sylla b le of "sode," then,
could only be w r itte n w ith 素 or 蘇 , but on the other
hand, the f ir s t s y lla b le of "sono" could only be w r itte n w ith
the ch a ra c te rs 貝U , 所 , 曽 or 增 . It was M o to o ri who, in
the e ig h te e n th c e n tu ry , f ir s t discovered th a t
and several
o th e r Heian period sylla bles each corresponded to tw o
d is tin c t sets o f m an'ySgana c h a ra c te rs in th is w ay.
M o to o ri!s d is c ip le , Ishizuka Tatsum aro (1764-1823), took
up th is problem , and by the end o f the e ig h te e n th ce n tu ry
had w r itte n a d e ta ile d w o rk on d is tin c tio n s of th is kind in
the m arVy^gana o f the w orks K ojdkl, Nihon sh o ki and
3.
These six c h a ra c te rs do not c o n s titu te the e n tire set o f m an'yogana
used in Nara p e riod w o rks to re p re se n t "so ." T hey are th e subset found
in the Man’yDshU and lis te d by Lange (1973, p. 162).
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Timothy J .
VANCE
M anryosh u. The research by M o to o ri and Ishizuka was the
basis fo r the w ork in th is area by the g re a t Japanese
lin g u is t Hashim oto S hinkichi (1882-1945). It was Hashimoto
(1917) who fir s t proposed (perhaps w ith a h in t from a nin e ­
te e n th c e n tu ry com m entary on Ish izu ka's w o rk by Kusakado
N obutaka; see Lange 1973, p. 23, n . 1 1 ) th a t the m u tu a lly
e x clu sive sets o f man!yogana re presente d d is tin c t sounds.^
Hashim oto devoted much o f his lif e to th is problem and
is responsible fo r coining the term s '!ko ty p e '1 and Motsu
ty p e '1 (H ashim oto 1931).
F o r each case in w h ich tw o
m u tu a lly e xclusive sets o f man!yogana w ere discovered,
Hashim oto labe led one set ko and the o th e r otsu. The kootsu d is tin c tio n is found only in syllables corresponding to
Heian period sylla b les c o n ta in in g the vowels , 'i，
" "en and
"o ," and i t is g e n e ra lly agreed th a t the d is tin c tio n s be­
tw ee n the ko and otsu sylla ble s in Nara period pronuncia­
tio n w e re d is tin c tio n s in the vow els, a lthoug h th is view is
not u n iv e rs a l (Lange 1973, pp. 28-32). E x a c tly how the otsu
vow els d iffe re d is not c le a r, and th e re are several com pet­
ing th e o rie s about how they w ere pronounced (Lange 1973,
pp. 34-69). In any e ve n t, i t is g e ne ra lly agreed th a t Nara
p e rio d Japanese had e ig h t d is tin c t vow els, as opposed to
the fiv e found in the Japanese o f the Heian p e rio d .5
A t th is p o in t the d ic tio n a ry e n try quoted above should
be re a d ily u nderstan dable.
The w ord "k a m i/a b o v e " con­
ta in e d a ko ty p e ni n in N ara period Japanese, whereas
"k a m i/g o d 11 co n ta in e d an otsu ty p e ni . M The tw o words w ere
thus pronounced d iffe r e n tly d u rin g the Nara period, and
th is makes i t v ir tu a lly c e rta in th a t they are e tym o lo g ic a lly
d is tin c t.
な.
5.
282
Ya ma mo t o (1933, pp. 36-37) says th a t Ish izu ka had a lre a d y come to the
c o n c lu s io n th a t the Nara p e riod sp e llin g co n ve n tio n s re fle c te d d if f e r ­
ences in p ro n u n c ia tio n , b u t most scholars disa g re e . See, fo r exam ple,
F u ru ta and Tsukishim a 1972, pp. 288-289 and Lange 丨
973，p. 23.
I t w ould a c tu a lly be more pre cise to say th a t Nara p e riod 3apanese
had e ig h t d is tin c t Mv o w e l n u c le i." A v o w e l nucleus form s th e nucleus
o f a sin g le s y lla b le , b u t it may be a d ip h th o n g (or even a trip h th o n g )
r a th e r th a n a sim p le , s te a d y -s ta te vo w e l.
J a p a n e s e Jo u rn a l of Religious S tu d ies 10/4
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The E ty mol og y o f Kami
It m ight be useful to consider a s im ila r example from
E nglish a t th is p o in t.
M ost E nglish speakers fe e l th a t
"m e a l" in the sense o f "re p a s t" and "m eal" in the sense of
"ground grain,' are tw o re la te d form s o f a single w ord.
E ty m o lo g ic a lly , how ever, the tw o have d iffe r e n t origins,
and th e y w ere pronounced q u ite d iffe r e n tly in O ld English.
The O x fo rd English D ic tio n a ry gives "mael" as Old English
fo r nm e a l/re p a s t," and "m e lo " as Old English fo r "m e a l/
ground g ra in ." Just as in the case o f "k a m i/a b o v e " and
"k a m i/g o d ," the sem antic resem blance betw een these tw o
English w ords makes the e ty m o lo g ic a l id e n tific a tio n q u ite
p la u sib le , though no less w rong.
It should be noted, in c id e n ta lly , th a t it is not absolute­
ly in co n ce iva b le th a t "k a m i/a b o v e " and "k a m i/g o d " do
d e riv e fro m the same source, and w ere in fa c t pronounced
id e n tic a lly a t some tim e b e fo re the Nara period. It some­
tim es happens th a t when a w o rd is used in tw o d is tin c t
senses, tw o d is tin c t pro n u n cia tio n s develop over tim e . F or
exam ple, the English w ords " o f f " and " o f" are both descen­
dants o f a single e a rlie r w o rd . This e a rlie r w ord could be
used e ith e r as an adverb o r as a p re p o s itio n ， and i t was
g e n e ra lly stressed in the fo rm e r use and unstressed in the
la tte r . Subsequent changes in E nglish p ro n u n c ia tio n applied
d iffe r e n tly to stressed and unstressed syllables, and a t
some p o in t the d iffe re n c e in p ro n u n c ia tio n was in te rp re te d
as sig n a llin g the d iffe re n c e betw een tw o w ords, one an
adverb and one a p re p o s itio n . The tw o forms have c o n tin u ­
ed to dive rg e in p ro n u n c ia tio n , and " o f f " has reacquired a
p re p o s itio n a l use, alth ou g h it is q u ite d is tin c t from " o f."
I t is im p o rta n t to keep in m ind, h ow ever, th a t to m ain­
ta in the e ty m o lo g ic a l id e n tific a tio n o f "k a m i/g o d " w ith
"k a m i/a b o v e " one m ust assume th a t the d iffe re n c e in p ro ­
n u n c ia tio n trig g e re d by the a n c ie n t sem antic d is tin c tio n
was ju s t the sort o f d iffe re n c e th a t w ould la te r be undone
by the change from the vow el system o f the Nara period to
th a t of the Heian pe rio d. W hile th is is not im possible in
th e o ry , the p ro b a b ility o f such a series o f events is surely
e x tre m e ly low .
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Timothy J .
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HASHIM OTO (1950, p. 192) m entioned th e etym ology o f
nka m i/g o d " in a le c tu re d e liv e re d in 1937, and to my know ­
ledge th is is his e a rlie s t re fe re n c e to it . A lth o u g h he did
not re je c t the id e n tific a tio n w ith "k a m i/a b o v e " o u trig h t, he
did w a rn th a t the d iffe re n c e in p ro n u n cia tio n in the Nara
p e rio d makes i t necessary to consider ve ry c a re fu lly
w h e th e r th e re is any co n n e ctio n betw een the tw o words.
W hat is som ewhat curious about H ashim oto's rem arks is
th a t he a ttrib u te d the e ty m o lo g ic a l id e n tific a tio n of the
tw o w ords to M o to o ri, w hereas Yam am oto, whose book
appeared in 1933, had alre a d y tra c e d the etym ology back
to the s ix te e n th c e n tu ry , more than a c e n tu ry b e fo re M o to o ri was born.
An e a rlie r re fe re n c e to the Nara period p ronuncia tions
o f the tw o w ords is found in a 1931 a r tic le by the re ­
nowned Japanese lin g u is t A risa ka H ideyo (1908-1952).
A risa ka (1931, p. 62) sim ply m entions the d iffe re n c e in the
Nara period spellings o f the tw o w ords as a p a rt o f an
argum ent in support o f H ashim oto's conclusion th a t Nara
p e rio d spelling d iffe re n c e s must have represente d pronun­
c ia tio n d iffe re n c e s . A lth o u g h A risa ka says nothing one way
or the o th e r about any e ty m o lo g ic a l co n nectio ns, it is s t ill
c le a r th a t Japanese scholars w ere aw are even before
Yam am oto’s book appeared in 1933 th a t the Nara period
p ro n u n cia tio n s of !,ka m i/g o d M and "k a m i/a b o v e " w ere d if f e r ­
ent. In fairn ess, h ow ever, i t must be pointed out th a t a
note a t the end o f Y am am oto's book says th a t it is based
in p a rt on a le c tu re given in 1928.
There is no in d ic a tio n in H o lto m 's a r tic le th a t Yam a­
m oto acknow ledged any debt to H ashim oto. Q u ite to the
c o n tra ry , in fa c t, Holtom a ttrib u te s the d iscovery of the
e ig h t-v o w e l system in Nara period Japanese to Yam am oto,
and a look a t Y am am oto's book makes it easy to see how
th is happened. Yam am oto did, in fa c t, re fe r to Hashim oto's
w o rk , as the fo llo w in g passage dem onstrates:
Some years ago my fe llo w stu d ent Hashim oto (Shink i c h i ) , 巳• A .，published in the November issue o f T eiko2 84
J a p a n e s e J o u r n a l of Religious S tu d ies 1 0 / な
198 3
The E ty mol og y of Kami
ku bungaku an a r tic le e n title d "K okugo kanazukai
kenkyG shijo no ic h ih a k k e n ，
" in w hich he re p o rte d his
research on Ishizuka T atsum aro's K anazuka i Oku no
yam am ichi.
A c co rd in g to th is a rtic le , the region in
w h ich opened and closed6 sounds w ere c le a rly d is tin —
guished in the kana used fo r the th irte e n sounds e, ki,
ke, ko, so, to, nu, hi, he, mi, me, y o ，and ro … was the
c e n tra l p a rt of the c o u n try .
The region may have
extended to areas fa rth e r w est, but not to the eastern
p ro vin ces. This is the reason fo r the g re a t abundance
of confused kana usage in the "A zum a u ta " in Book 14
of the M anryDshu, and esp e cia lly in the "S akim ori u ta "
in Book 20. Tatsum aro used these poems as examples,
but Hashim oto considered th is a ve ry g re a t fla w and
tre a te d them as excepUons. This is the th e o ry th a t
Hashim oto developed (Yam am oto 1933, pp, 38-39).
Yam am oto (1933, p. 39) then w e n t on to say th a t w h a t­
ever the case may be w ith o th er words, "k a m i/g o d " and
"k a m i/a b o v e " are c o n s is te n tly d iffe r e n tia te d in the o rth o ­
graphy of the "A zum a u ta " ("Songs of the E a st"). G iven this
a cco u n t, i t seems u n lik e ly th a t anyone not already fa m ilia r
w ith H ashim oto's w o rk w ould have even suspected the real
s ig n ific a n c e of the 1917 a r tic le .
One can hardly blame
H oltom fo r c re d itin g Yam am oto w ith the d iscovery of the
tru e na tu re o f the Nara period spe lling conventions,
although the lack o f com m unication among scholars in d if ­
fe re n t fie ld s is c e rta in ly lam e nta ble . In any case, the story
of the etym ology of kami turns out to be a ve ry curious
6.
Yam am oto (1933， pp. 37-38) used th e term s "open sound" (kaion) and
"clo se d sound" (or "ro u n d e d sound"; gdon) to d e scrib e the d iffe re n c e s
in p ro n u n c ia tio n b e tw e en the ko typ e "m i" and the otsu ty p e "m i."
These term s are fro m the Chinese Yijn Ching (Japanese reading Inkyd)
sound ta b le s , and th e upshot is th a t "k a m i/g o d " was pronounced some­
th in g lik e "k a m w i" in the Nara p e r i o d . しange (1973, pp • な5 -な7) g ive s a
s h o rt a c c o u n t of how stu d y o f the Vun Ching led M iya ke T a k e ro ,
Vasuda K iyo m o n and K ik u z a w a Sueo to propose in 1933-35 th a t some­
th in g lik e a "w " d iffe r e n tia te d a ll k o -o ts u p a irs . H oltom (1 9 ^ 0 ，pp. 2^f25) re c o u n ts Y am am oto's discussion in d e ta il.
J a p a n e s e Jo u rn a l of Religious S tu d ies 10/4
19 8 3
28 5
T i m o t h y J . VANCE
ch a p te r in the h is to ry o f the study o f Japanese re lig io n in
the W est.
SOME readers may fe e l a t th is p o in t th a t the most im por­
ta n t question raised here has been le f t unansw ered. If
"k a m i/g o d '1 does not d e rive from !,k a m i/a b o ve ," th e n , w h a t
does it d e riv e from ?
U n fo rtu n a te ly , I am unable to o ffe r any s a tis fa c to ry
ety m o lo g y . B oth Yam am oto (1933 ， pp. 33-42) and Holtom
(1940 ， pp. 5-16) discuss o th e r proposed e tym ologies, but
none, as I have noted above, is a t a ll persuasive. The e n try
fo r "k a m i/g o d " in the Nihon kokugo d a ijite n lis ts th irte e n
e ty m o lo g ic a l e x p lan a tio ns, and the only im p o rta n t one th a t
does not appear in the surveys by Yam am oto and H oltom is
the suggestion th a t the w ord derives fro m an A lta ic ro o t.
This suggestion can be in te rp re te d in e ith e r o f tw o
ways. It may be th a t Japanese b orrow ed the w ord from
some A lta ic language a t some tim e in p re h is to ry , but th is is
proba b ly not w h a t the com pilers o f the d ic tio n a ry m eant to
suggest. The more lik e ly in te rp re ta tio n involves the claim
th a t Japanese
and th e
A lta ic
languages (M ongolian,
M anchu, T u rkish , e tc .) are re la te d , a ll changed form s of a
single "p a re n t" language w hich was spoken a t some tim e in
the rem ote past. Some scholars, such as M ille r (1971 ，1980),
have argued v o c ife ro u s ly th a t Japanese and the A lta ic la n ­
guages are re la te d in th is w a y, but as S tre e t (1982 ，p. 432)
p o in ts o u t, the claim is by no means u n iv e rs a lly accepted.
In any eve n t, i f "k a m i/g o d " is A lta ic under e ith e r of
these in te rp re ta tio n s ，i t w ill n o t have any etym ology w ith in
Japanese. In o th e r w ords, w h e th e r b orrow ed or in h e rite d , it
w ould have e ntered th e language as an unanalyzable w hole.
G iven these co n side ra tio n s, the n, I b elieve the only reason­
able conclusion is th a t the question of the etym ology of
"k a m i" rem ains open.
286
J a p a n e s e Jo u rn a l of Religious S tu d ies 10/4
198 3
The E t ym o l o g y o f Kami
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198 3