七夕

Chinese

Wikipedia has an article on:

• 七夕

Pronunciation

Proper noun

七夕

1. (～節) Qixi Festival (the Chinese Valentine's Day, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month)

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Japanese

Etymology 1

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

七夕

Wikipedia ^ja

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Tanabata

Wikipedia

Origins somewhat obscure.

The latter bata portion is generally accepted to be from 機 (hata, “a loom”). The hata reading for 機 changes to bata as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

The former tana portion may be from 棚 (tana, “a shelf, or a board placed lengthwise in a bridge”), in reference to an ancient ritual whereby a maiden would weave a special cloth on a hata in order to secure a bountiful harvest, as an offering for a god coming across a body of water via a tana. A related theory states that tana is instead an alteration of 種 (tane, “seed”). Yet another theory states that tana is an alteration of 手 (ta, “hand”, unbound Old Japanese form) + な (na, Old Japanese possessive particle superseded by no).

The common spelling of 七夕 is an example of jukujikun, since the festival is held on the seventh night of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, now generally observed on 7 July.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) たなばた (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

七夕(たなばた) • (tanabata) 

1. a type of loom (the original meaning)
2. a type of weaving
3. by extension, a weaver
4. (figuratively) any extremely rare visit, or the person so visiting

Proper noun

七夕(たなばた) • (Tanabata) 

1. the Tanabata Japanese star festival, observed on 7 July

Synonyms

• 七夕(たなばた)祭(まつ)り (Tanabata matsuri)
• 星(ほし)祭(まつ)り (Hoshi matsuri)
• 七日(なぬか)盆(ぼん) (Nanuka Bon)

Further reading

• List of festivals in Japan on Wiktionary
• List of festivals in Japan on Wikipedia

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese compound 七夕 (MC tshit zjek, literally “seventh evening”). Compare modern Mandarin 七夕 (Qīxī).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) しち​せき (Nakadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Proper noun

七(しち)夕(せき) • (Shichiseki) 

1. the Tanabata Japanese star festival, observed on 7 July
2. the Chinese Qīxī Festival, also sometimes referred to as the Double Seventh Festival

References

Korean

Noun

七夕 • (chilseok) (hangeul 칠석)

1. Hanja form^? of 칠석 (“Qixi”).

Vietnamese

Noun

七夕

1. chữ Hán form of Thất Tịch (“Qixi”).