ござる

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Japanese

Alternative spellings
御座る
厶る (rare)

Etymology

Shift from ござある (gozaaru),[1] composed of (honorific prefix) +‎ (seat) +‎ ある (to be, to have), literally to have one's honorable seat.

According to Kōjien, the above is derived from the Sino-Japanese reading of (the kanji in the ateji spelling of) 御座す (owasu) + あり (ari) (the classical form of ある (aru)).[2]

Pronunciation

  • Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 「ござる
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形)
Attributive (連体形)
ござる
Imperative (命令形) - - -
Key constructions
Passive ござられる ざられ
Causative ござらせる ざらせ
Potential - - -
Volitional ござろう ざろ
Negative ござらない ざらない
Negative perfective ござらなかった ざらなかった
Formal ござります ざりま
Perfective ござった った
Conjunctive ござって って
Hypothetical conditional ござれば れば

Verb

ござる (gozaruintransitive godan (stem ござり (gozari) or ござい (gozai), past ござった (gozatta))

  1. (archaic) to exist, to be, to have

Usage notes

  • In classical Japanese, ござる (gozaru) was the polite form of ある (aru) applicable to both animate and inanimate objects. It survives in modern Japanese only in the inflected forms ございました (gozaimashita), ございましたら (gozaimashitara), ございます (gozaimasu), and です (desu), which may originate from a contraction of でございます (de gozaimasu). (go-) is a politeness prefix, (za) is the equivalent of ある (aru) in Sino-Japanese, and finally (-ru) is a suffix for verbs. Another opinion is that it is a contraction of ござある (gozaaru), composed of 御座 (goza, noble seat) and ある (aru, to exist, literally to be on a noble seat).
  • In modern popular culture, it is associated with ninja.

Conjugation

References

  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. ^ Shinmura, Izuru, editor (1998), 広辞苑 [Kōjien] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN