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Prefix ツ静ヲ vs ツ静ヲツ々

Ciel

後輩
19 Jun 2013
5
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Please correct me if I'm wrong...

ツ静ヲ is a kanji that generally means before, previous as in the following examples

ツ静ヲ窶堙 before, earlier, previously
ツ静ヲ窶愿コ previous day
ツ静ヲツ々ナ椎ス previous month
ツ静ヲツ青カ master, teacher (previous life)
ツ静ヲ窶堋ク first of all (previous to anything else)

If that is true, my question is:
Why then ツ静ヲツ々ツ(窶堋ウ窶堋ォ窶堋エ窶堋ォツ)is considered to mean 'distant, inevitable future' (temporal noun)?

Someone able to shed light into this? I'm confused... :(
 
Please correct me if I'm wrong...
You sure? It may confuse you even more.
先 is a kanji that generally means before, previous as in the following examples
This is the false premise that so many Japanese-learners seem to fall into believing in an early stage of their studies. What you said may be true in Chinese but not in Japanese. 先 refers to the past half the time but it refers to the future the other half in Japanese.
先に before, earlier, previously
先日 previous day
先々月 previous month
先生 master, teacher (previous life)
先ず first of all (previous to anything else)
If that is true, my question is:
Why then 先々(さきざき)is considered to mean 'distant, inevitable future' (temporal noun)?
Someone able to shed light into this? I'm confused... :(
First, there are a few mistakes in the definitions of the words you listed.
先に also means "in the future" e.g. 先に延ばす(to postpone something to a future time)
先々月 does not mean "previous month" as you stated. It means "the month before last".
先生 is a bad word choice for this discussion because it means very different things between Chinese and Japanese. In Chinese, it only means "Mr." "Men were born before women, so let's call ourselves 先生" was the kinda thinking from a few thousand years ago in China.
Who gave you that incomplete definition of 先々 (among other things)? It means BOTH a distant future and a long time ago. Context will tell you for which meaning it is used for.
 
You are absolutely right. I am more confused now. Can somebody help unconfuse this point?

edit:
Ok, I've been going over more words and noticed something, but I'm not sure if it's right.

The kanji has at least two readings:
When it is read せん it seems to take the "previous, before" meaning.

先々月(せんせんげつ)previous month (month before last is still a 'previous' month)
先々週(せんせんしゅう)previous weak
先祖(せんぞ)ancestor
先見(せんけん)foresight (previous sighting)

But, when it is read さき it seems to take the "future" sense the upper poster mentions.
先々(さきざき)future future, far future
先物(さきもの)futures
先行き(さきいき)the future


Is this getting close to a more definite answer?
 
Last edited:
You forgot 先程 (さきほど). 先物 is a financial term, so I would exclude it from this discussion (unless you like learning financial terms).

Like the English "before", 先 can mean both a temporal thing (earlier), and a physical thing (in front of). From this second meaning, I think is where the usage of 先 as destination/future come. (先々 can also refer to various places, e.g. 行く先々)
 
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