茗荷

Japanese
茗荷 (myōga, mega): a myoga flower bud.
茗荷 (myōga): one of the various designs of the myoga family crest.

Etymology 1
Kanji in this term
茗 荷
みょう
Hyōgaiji		 が
Grade: 3
on’yomi
Alternative spelling
蘘荷 (rare)

/meɡa/ → /meuɡa/ → /mjoːɡa/

From earlier mega (see below).[1][2][3] The kanji spelling is an example of phonetic ateji.[1][3]

Pronunciation

Noun

茗(みょう)荷(が) or 茗荷(ミョウガ) • (myōga) ←めうが (meuga)?

  1. myoga or Japanese ginger (Zingiber mioga), of which only the shoots and flower buds are used in cooking
  2. a dimwit, an idiot, a stupid person (from a folk belief that excess consumption of myoga causes forgetfulness)
  3. a kind of 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”)
Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as ミョウガ.

Derived terms

Etymology 2
Kanji in this term
茗 荷
め
Hyōgaiji		 が
Grade: 3
irregular
Alternative spelling
蘘荷 (rare)

From Old Japanese [Term?]. Some sources[1][2][3] mention that this might be a compound of 芽 (me, “sprout”) + 香 (ka, “fragrant”). However, the semantics are backwards compared to most other Japanese compounds. In addition, this term appears in writings of the Nara period with the spellings 女我 and 売我.[1] The me syllable here is spelled phonetically with the so-called Type-A or 甲類 (kōrui) reading of e1, but 芽 in Old Japanese had the Type-B or 乙類 (otsurui) reading of e2. These two different e phonetic values were distinct in Old Japanese, indicating that 芽 (me, “sprout”) + 香 (ka, “fragrant”) is not the actual derivation.

(For more details on Old Japanese spellings and phonetic values, see Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai on Wikipedia.Wikipedia )

This reading is obsolete in modern Japanese.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [me̞ɡa̠]

Noun

茗(め)荷(が) • (mega) 

  1. (obsolete) myoga or Japanese ginger (Zingiber mioga)

References
  1. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  4. NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
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