Translingual

Han character

葎 (radical 140 艸+9, 12 strokes, cangjie input 廿竹人手 (THOQ), four-corner 4425₇, composition ⿱艹律)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

References

• KangXi: page 1044, character 13
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 31397
• Dae Jaweon: page 1505, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 5, page 3252, character 4
• Unihan data for U+844E

Chinese

Glyph origin

Pronunciation

Definitions

葎

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Japanese

Kanji

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: りち (richi)
• Kan’on: りつ (ritsu)
• Kun: むぐら (mugura), うぐら (ugura) (non-Jōyō reading), もぐら (mogura) (non-Jōyō reading)
• Nanori: つ (tsu)

Etymology 1

花八重葎 ‎(hana yae mugura): the “flowering eight-layer mugura”, field madder.	磯馴葎 ‎(sonare mugura): the “pebble-accustomed mugura”, Hedyotis biflora.
金葎 ‎(kana mugura): the “money mugura”, the Japanese hop plant.	刺無葎 ‎(toge nashi mugura): the “thornless mugura”, false baby's breath.

From Old Japanese.^[1] Probably the eastern Japanese form. Compare the alternation in ugura and mugura readings in the etymology of 土竜.

May ultimately derive from obsolete verb 剥る ‎(mukuru, “to peel off, to tear off”), perhaps related to the way that weeds are often removed by tearing the plant out.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) むぐら [mùgúrá] (Heiban - [0])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [mɯᵝɡ̃ɯᵝɾ̠a̠]

Noun

葎 ‎(hiragana むぐら, romaji mugura)

1. any of various plants of order Gentianales or Urticales, that form thickets, often have thorns and form vines, and prefer wet or disturbed soils; generally regarded as weeds
   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 19, poem 4270), text here:

     牟具良波布 / 伊也之伎屋戸母 / 大皇之 / 座牟等知者 / 玉之可麻思乎

     葎延ふ / 賎しき宿も / 大君の / 座さむと知らば / 玉敷かましを

     むぐら はふ / いやしき やど も / おほきみ の / まさむ と しらば / たま しかまし を

     Mugura hafu / iyashiki yado mo / ohokimi no / masamu to shiraba / tama shikamashi wo

     Even a shabby house surrounded by weed thickets would be as if strewn with jewels if I knew you were there

Usage notes

The plants called by this name are many and varied, and include plants such as madder, cleaver, and hops.

The reading mugura appears to be the most common.

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana in biological contexts, as ムグラ.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Old Japanese. Probably the western Japanese form. Compare the alternation in ugura and mugura readings in the etymology of 土竜.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) うぐら [ùgúrá] (Heiban - [0])
• IPA^(key): [ɯᵝɡ̃ɯᵝɾ̠a̠]

Noun

葎 ‎(hiragana うぐら, romaji ugura)

1. any of various plants of order Gentianales or Urticales, that form thickets, often have thorns and form vines, and prefer wet or disturbed soils; generally regarded as weeds

Etymology 3

Probably an alteration or dialectal variant of mugura above. Appears with this reading in the 本草和名 (Honzō Wamyō, “Japanese Names of the Real Herbs”), a pharmacopoeia written in 923.^[1] Still listed as an alternate reading in modern dictionaries.^[1][2]

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) もぐら [mògúrá] (Heiban - [0])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [mo̞ɡ̃ɯᵝɾ̠a̠]

Noun

葎 ‎(hiragana もぐら, romaji mogura)

1. any of various plants of order Gentianales or Urticales, that form thickets, often have thorns and form vines, and prefer wet or disturbed soils; generally regarded as weeds

References

1. 1 2 3 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1 2 3 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9

• 深根 輔仁 (Fukane Sukehito), editor (901–923) 本草和名 (Honzō Wamyō, Japanese Names of the Real Herbs) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: 紅葉山文庫 (Momiji Yama Bunko, Autumn Leaves Mountain Books), OCLC 728064858, published 1796.