Quote:
Originally Posted by 82riceballs
The reason Jia Hu sounds nothing like Kago is because "Jia HU" is modern mandarin. The pronunciation "Kago" came from ancient Chinese, which sounds almost nothing like modern Mandarin (what most people think is the only type of Chinese). The Japanese imported Kanji from China during the Tang Dynasty (golden age of China) for the Buddhist scriptures that the monk Xuanzhang got from India, so modern Japanese pronunciations of kanji sound more like ancient Chinese than modern mandarin. Got it?
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I figure all languages change over the centuries.
But that still doesn't assure me that Kago is ancient Chinese in origin. If there's any way to trace the origin of Jiahu to Chinese and prove it doesn't come from native Japanese words that existed before the Chinese came over, I should like to see it. Surely there's plenty of ways to see how ancient Chinese was spoken, not just Mandarin and Cantonese modern Chinese forms.
You do realize that Kanji is just writing system right? Yes, many spoken words along with writing system were brought over, but that doesn't mean all modern Japanese words are Chinese in origin. That would mean that Chinese complete erased the Japanese language except for structure. And I doubt that's so. Japanese shares a lot with the Ainu language which is probably pretty untouched by Chinese words. If Chinese words so heavy overlapped and erased the original Japanese I don't think Japanese would still be considered a language isolate.
http://i18.tinypic.com/87dyzdc.gif
I agree with Nyororin. Most linguists don't know. Some Japanese words can be somewhat traced, but most not. I was wondering if perhaps Kago might be one of those words that could be traced.
I've noticed the major Altaic converter
this site has no luck with Kago.
Anyway thank you again anrakushi. Maybe it's not certain that Kago is linked to the Korean Ga-ho and Ancient Chinese Jiahu, but I'm happy to at least know that possibility. Much better than nothing and completely what I was looking for, a possible root.
Thanks for now. I may have a new word I'm curious about soon.
