築く

From Old Japanese, attested in the Izumo Fudoki completed in 733.^[1]

By surface analysis, 杵 (ki, “mallet, pounder, pestle”, from which きね (kine) “pestle” is also derived^[2]) +‎ 築く (tsuku, “to build up, to pile up, to amass”, see below),^[1][3] for a base sense of “to make something using a pounder or mallet”,^[1] 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.^[4][5][6] However, the “to construct” sense is attested centuries later in 1081.^[1] 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/.^[1]

• (Tokyo) きずく (Nakadaka – )^[3][5][7]
• 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).^[8][4][5][6]

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