Yesterday in my japanese class we were discussing counting suffixis, like -satsu for books, etc. Then there came a question with which suffixes do japanese count mermaides, centaures and other mythological creatures. I suppose it should be -nin for mermaids (like for people) and -tou for centaures, but I'm not sure. And I heard there were some special suffixes for demons and gods, is that right?
It would be very kind of you, bike-san, if you could help me to find the answer to the question. :)
PS: Sorry, I can't write in Japanese from this computer, it doesn't have oriental languages installed on it.
I am very glad to receive this question from you and to be able to help you on these issues.
ReplyDeleteIn my first impression, your usage, "nin" for mermaids and "tou" for centaures, is right. But, this is a little bit difficult question, I thought. Because we are not always conscious about what counting suffixes we should use to them.
Next, I considered some Japanese traditonal srories like folk tales, but in most cases, only one god appear in a story, I could not think of a story that have several gods. So, I could not find a good example.
And I saw wikipedia to learn more about these problems. It explains that "hashira"（柱） is used to count gods. But, I don't think that it is a suitable expression for these cases.
And, I found some arguments that we shoud use what counting suffix for mermaids in several web-sites. So, this is a very confusing problem even among Japanese people.
Finally, I think that your first idea is right because mermaid is like human beings, and centaures is like animals.
I always welcome your quesition about Japanese.
Thank you bike-san for such an extensive answer, I appreciate it very much. It was very interesting to read your opinion^^.
ReplyDelete