マリオ (Mario Menti)Mar 23

Reading (the excellent) Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-zi, I've come across the Japanese term ōmagatoki, meaning twilight. When I looked it up, I realised it's written in two different ways, which both sound the same:

逢魔が時 (the time when meeting a witch or demon)
大禍時 (the time of big calamity or misfortune)

Interesting? Well, I thought so. 😁

Show threadJan Manus Leupert (マヌス)Mar 23
@mario Do you already know the reason for the pronunciation being the same even though the verb in the first case is 逢(あ)う?
Show threadマリオ (Mario Menti)Mar 23
@kojinmanus I don't, and a quick search hasn't found anything conclusive..
Show threadJan Manus Leupert (マヌス)
@mario In the olden days (think Kamakura/Muromachi periods, although I think the transition dates back to the Heian period), while the kana spelling was あふ, it was pronounced おう. So if you read a text from that time, you wouldn't pronounce it あう.
There are places called 逢坂(おうさか), too, by the way, and if I'm not mistaken, one of them is in 大阪! Confusing enough? 🤣
Anyway, thought you might find this interesting, too.
Mar 23 at 9:41pmWeb