白妙

/siro₁ tape₂/ → /sirotape/ → /sirotafe/ → /ɕirotawe/ → /ɕiɾotae/

From Old Japanese. Found in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE, spelled either phonetically in man'yōgana,^[1][2][3] or as 白細, 白布, 白細布, 白木綿.

Originally a compound of 白(しろ) (shiro, “white”) + 栲(たえ) (tae, “cloth”, archaic). The use of 妙 (“excellent, delicate”) is an example of jukujikun (熟字訓), usually as a part of a 枕詞 (makurakotoba, “pillow word”). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

• (Tokyo) しろたえ (Heiban – )^[4]
• (Tokyo) しろたえ (Nakadaka – )^[4]
• IPA^(key):

白(しろ)妙(たえ) • (shirotae) ^{←しろたへ (sirotafe)?}

1. a white cloth, made from the fibers of, for example, the 梶の木 (kajinoki, “paper mulberry”) tree.
2. (by extension) the colour white

• (white): 白(はく)色(しょく) (hakushoku)

• 白(しろ)妙(たえ)の (shirotae no, pillow word)

• 白(シロ)妙(タエ)菊(ギク) (shirotaegiku, “Jacobaea maritima (syn. Senecio cineraria)”, type of white chrysanthemum)

/sira tape₂/ → /siratape/ → /siratafe/ → /ɕiratawe/ → /ɕiɾatae/

Variant spelling of shirotae above. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

• (Tokyo) しらたえ (Heiban – )^[4]
• (Tokyo) しらたえ (Nakadaka – )^[4]
• IPA^(key):

白(しら)妙(たえ) • (shiratae) ^{←しらたへ (siratafe)?}

1. (rare) a white cloth, made from the fibers of, for example, the 梶の木 (kajinoki, “paper mulberry”) tree.
2. (rare, by extension) the colour white