始め (Japanese)

Where does "始め" come from?

The Japanese form '始め' serves as an imperfective stem or continuative nominal form of the transitive verb '始める' ('hajimeru'), meaning 'to begin something'[1]. The verb descends from Old Japanese, tracing ultimately back to Proto-Japonic '*pansimay'[2]. Over the history of the language, it underwent a regular shift from the historical lower bigrade verb class to modern lower monograde conjugation[2].

Open questions

• The ancestral Proto-Japonic form '*pansimay' is an unattested, reconstructed stage of the language. [2]

Full etymology tree

• 始め (hajime) (Japanese), 'imperfective and stem (or continuative) forms of 始める (hajimeru)'
  • deverbal 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