始め (Japanese)

Where does "始め" come from?

The Japanese noun 'hajime', meaning 'beginning' or 'origin', derives as the nominal form of the verb 'hajimeru', which means 'to begin something'[1]. The verb itself traces back to Old Japanese, ultimately developing from the Proto-Japonic transitive reconstruction '*pansimay'[2]. Over time, it followed the regular historical transition in Japanese grammar where lower bigrade verbs ending in '-u' evolved into modern lower monograde verbs ending in '-eru'[2].

Open questions

• The ancestral Proto-Japonic form '*pansimay' is an unattested linguistic reconstruction. [2]

Full etymology tree

• 始め (hajime) (Japanese), 'beginning, the start of an activity or time period'
  • derived 始める (hajimeru) (Japanese), 'to begin, to start, to initiate'
    • inherited (Old Japanese)
      • inherited *pansimay (Proto-Japonic)

Sources

1. 始め (hajime) (Japanese) - Wiktionary
2. 始める (hajimeru) (Japanese) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris