Ito o kashi いとをかし

[PaulTB]

Anybody know what いとをかし means and what kanji would it be written in if it was written in kanji?

 

[rquethe]

well, I don't know much Japanese obviously. So there is only one meaning I can think of and that is borrowing thread. Which follows as:

糸を貸し

May I ask what the question is for? Like where did you see it? Or is this something you already know that you are asking us?

 

[PaulTB]

well, I don't know much Japanese obviously. So there is only one meaning I can think of and that is borrowing thread. Which follows as:

糸を貸し

Well that may or may not be the kanji - but it doesn't help much without knowing the meaning.

May I ask what the question is for? Like where did you see it?

It was part of a question in a Japanese language quiz. Unfortunately the meaning of the answer was not clear to me either. Even if I've got some (very vague) idea of what it's said to mean I've no idea of why it means that or what the literal translation would be.

 

[Ewok85]

loan me some thread! lol, i have no idea, ill ask my lec at uni today.

 

[PaulTB]

loan me some thread! lol, i have no idea, ill ask my lec at uni today.

Ta. I think the quiz answer was something like 非常に情緒 but I'm not 100% sure on the start of that so you might want to skip that bit.

 

[kirei_na_me]

My husband just spotted this thread and says "ito o kashi" means "interesting" or "attractive" or "fun"...something of the sort. Says it has no Kanji because it is "real" Japanese. Hiragana has always been used for it.

 

[NANGI]

Konnichiwa PaulTB-san!

Anybody know what いとをかし means and what kanji would it be written in if it was written in kanji?

Kirei_na_me-san already said, it is "Ito Wokashi" and means "interesting" or "attractive" or "fun". I think you can not find this word because this is an archaic word in Japanese. "Ito" means "very" or "greatly", "Wokashi" means "interesting" in literally. And it is "Wokashi" correctly but not "Okashi".

"Ito" that means "interesting" die out already now, but "Wokashi" is used as "Okashii" or "Okashina" even now.

NANGI

 

[PaulTB]

Kirei_na_me-san already said, it is "Ito Wokashi" and means "interesting" or "attractive" or "fun". I think you can not find this word because this is an archaic word in Japanese.

Actually I did find a definition - of sorts - once I added 古文 to the search thanks to your hint.

６．古文だよ～ん（２） | 学習自由区 - 楽天ブログ

いとこそをかしけれ appears to be formed in the same way, so I guess it's properly a phrase not a word (although the distinction isn't as obvious in Japanese between those two).

"Ito" means "very" or "greatly", "Wokashi" means "interesting" in literally. And it is "Wokashi" correctly but not "Okashi".

Doesn't that rather depend on the romaji system used?

"Ito" that means "interesting" die out already now, but "Wokashi" is used as "Okashii" or "Okashina" even now.

 

[Ewok85]

I dont think it would be 'o' in this case as its not a particle and part of the word. The romaji system is just how its written in english characters and doesnt change how its said in japanese

 

[PaulTB]

I dont think it would be 'o' in this case as its not a particle and part of the word. The romaji system is just how its written in english characters and doesnt change how its said in japanese

But 'o' is specifically referring to the romaji as I always used いとをかし to refer to it when using hiragana.

 

[PaulTB]

There aren't a whole lot of words using 'を' to check, but a Google search for
をことてん okototen (乎古止点) has three matches
one of which gives both versions for the romaji (e.g. wokoten[okoten] )