Listed in modern references as a compound ofね(ne,onomatopoeia of the sound a cat makes; compare modern Japaneseにゃ(nya),Englishmew,meow) +こ(ko,diminutive noun-forming suffix).[1][2] According to the和名類聚抄(Wamyō Ruijushō) of 931–938,neko is a shortening of猫(nekoma), butneko appears in texts earlier thannekoma:neko is first attested in theShin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki of 794,[3] whilenekoma is not attested until 918 in the本草和名(Honzō Wamyō,the oldest surviving dictionary of medicine in Japan).[4]
A comparison of accent patterns between the dialects shows some confusion (see dialectal data):
One group of dialects behaves as if <LF> was the Heian Kyoto accent pattern: many dialects with the Tokyo type accent, including the standard Japanese in Tokyo, pronounce this word with an <HL-L> pitch pattern, and in some non-mainstream Keihan type dialects as well, this word has a corresponding <LF> pitch pattern.
Another group of dialects behaves as if <LL> was the Heian Kyoto accent pattern: the mainstream Keihan type dialects pronounce this word with an <HL> pitch pattern, and in a few of the Tokyo type dialects, this word has a corresponding <LH-L> pitch pattern.
As a result, this term is one example of words that have the same pitch accent pattern between Tokyo and Osaka/Kyoto. The confusion seems to be due to an impression that the term comes from a compound word origin.
Note: The information are extracted per se, in a broadIPA transcription by the author. There may be inaccuracies in the data. For Hachijō and Ryukyuan data, see their corresponding entries.
/ɯ̈/ is a described as a "central vowel", but the precise transcription is unclear.
Cat and raccoon dog, [...] both of them are called野貍(yari) in Chinese; the former is called尼古(⟨neko1⟩ → neko) while the latter is called多〻既(⟨tatake2⟩ → tatake) in Japanese.
As with many terms that name organisms, this term is oftenspelled inkatakana, especially inbiological contexts (where katakana is customary), asネコ(neko).
Cat. According toYewang, cat, sound-reading myō, [Japanese reading]nekoma; later compendia have a two character Japanese name - perhaps theRivers and Seas Annotations references this compilation, theHonzō wamyō [has] akun homophone, certain omissions call it 'neko', [in the]Shinsen Jikyō 'tanuki' - [read] neko, to check 'tanuki' [as] one name [for] a cat - see the Honzō wamyō; like a tiger but small, the creature catches rats for food
However,nekoma is first cited to 918 in the本草和名(Honzō Wamyō,the oldest surviving dictionary of medicine in Japan),[4] while猫(neko) is first attested earlier in theShin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki of 794.[3]
c.918,深根輔仁 [Fukane Sukehito],本草和名 [Japanese Names of Herbs,Honzō Wamyō]:
家狸、一名猫、和名禰古末
A house raccoon; also called a cat; the Japanese name isnekoma.
One theory about the derivation describes the firstmora⟨ne⟩ asonomatopoeia for the sound a cat makes, compare modern Japaneseにゃ(nya),Englishmew,meow. The last two morae⟨ko1ma⟩ might accord with熊(kuma,“bear”) if it were from Proto-Japonic*koma(class 2.3 <LL>), in the sense of "four-legged animal".(Canthis(+) etymology besourced?) However, Japanesekuma appears to have cognates in ancient Koreanic sources meaning specifically "bear" (see the熊(kuma,“bear”) entry for further details), making this theory less likely.
The Heian Kyoto accent of this word is <LHL>; note that in compound words for species names, the pitch pattern may be simplified to <-HL> when the final element is a 2-mora noun (e.g.青海苔(aonori ← àwònórì ← *àwò-nòrì,“green laver”), and the presence or absence of this phenomenon could explain the accent confusion inneko.(Canthis(+) etymology besourced?)
”, in日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten][3] (in Japanese), 2nd edition,Tokyo:Shogakukan,2000-2002, released online 2007,→ISBN, concise edition entry availablehere
[5] (in Japanese),Tōkyō:Shogakukan, 1989, released online 2016,→ISBN
