築く

From Old Japanese, attested in the Izumo Fudoki completed in 733.

By surface analysis, 杵 (ki, “mallet, pounder, pestle”, from which きね (kine) “pestle” is also derived) +‎ 築く (tsuku, “to build up, to pile up, to amass”, see below), for a base sense of “to make something using a pounder or mallet”, much as when building up rammed earth or stonework.

This term as 杵 (ki, “pounder”) + 築く (tsuku, “build up”) then underwent conflation with, or was reanalysed as, 城 (ki, “castle, fortress”) + 築く (tsuku, “build up”) with a basic sense of “to construct”. This latter derivation is given as the only etymology in some references. However, the “to construct” sense is attested centuries later in 1081. Moreover, the “castle, fortress” sense for the initial ki- element was pronounced in Old Japanese as /ki₂/, while the “pounder, mallet” sense was pronounced /ki₁/.

• (Tokyo) きずく (Nakadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

築(きず)く • (kizuku) ^{←きづく (kiduku)?}transitive godan (stem 築(きず)き (kizuki), past 築(きず)いた (kizuita))

1. to build up
2. to construct (a castle, fort, etc.)

From Old Japanese. Cognate with Japanese 突く (tsuku).

築(つ)く • (tsuku) transitive godan (stem 築(つ)き (tsuki), past 築(つ)いた (tsuita))

1. to build up, to pile up, to amass