なり

/ni ari/ → /nari/

Contraction of older に (ni, case particle) +‎ あり (ari, “to be, to exist”).^[1]

• IPA^(key):

なり • (nari) 

1. (Classical Japanese or literary) the classical copula “to be”, equivalent to modern Japanese である (de aru) or だ (da), or adjective particle な (na)

   偉(い)大(だい)なる我(わ)が祖(そ)国(こく)

   idai naru waga sokoku

   our glorious motherland

   • c. late 9th-mid-10th century, Taketori Monogatari:

     おのが身はこの国の人にもあらず、月の都の人なり。

     I am not one of this land, but of the Moon Capital.

   • 1900, “鉄道唱歌・東海道編 (Tetsudō shōka Tōkaidō-hen)”:

     大(おお)阪(さか)出(い)でて右(みぎ)左(ひだり)　菜(な)種(たね)ならざる畑(はた)もなし

     Ōsaka idete migihidari natane narazaru hata mo nashi

     Exiting Osaka, fields to the left and right, none which are not rape

• Attaches to a nominal or the 連体形 (rentaikei, “attributive form”) of declinables.
• The 終止形 (shūshikei, “terminal form”) of the copula can be spelled in kanji as 也, 𬼂 or 𬻿.
  • 恋は渾沌の隷也 (Koi wa Kaosu no Shimobe nari, “Love is a Servant of Chaos”)
• The kanji form is usually used to denote a sum of money, e.g. 二千円也 (nisen en nari).

• な (na, na-adjective ending)
• なら (nara)
• のみならず (nomi narazu)
• 如(い)何(か)なる (ikanaru)
• 大(おお)いなる (ōinaru)
• 異(こと)なる (kotonaru)
• 更(さら)なる (saranaru)
• 単(たん)なる (tannaru)
• 可(か)也(なり) (kanari): considerably; quite

From the 終止形 (shūshikei, “terminal form”) of the classical auxiliary verb なり.

なり • (nari) 

1. Used when giving an example, without the implication that it might be the best or the only option

   労(ろう)働(どう)局(きょく)になり相(そう)談(だん)したらどうですか？

   Rōdōkyoku ni nari sōdan shitara dō desu ka?

   What about consulting, for example, the Labor Bureau?

2. ... or ...

   楽(らく)天(てん)なりどこなりで買(か)い物(もの)をする

   Rakuten nari doko nari de kaimono o suru

   to shop at Rakuten or somewhere

• 大(だい)なり小(しょう)なり (dai nari shō nari, “more or less, to some extent”)

From Old Japanese なり (nari).

Thought to be a contraction of 音 (na, the bound apophonic form of 音 (ne), "sound") +‎ あり (ari, “to be”).^[2]

なり • (-nari) ^†-ri

1. (Classical Japanese) A modal auxiliary verb indicating hearsay or conjecture based on what is heard: it sounds like; it is said that
   • c. 935, 土佐日記

     男(をとこ)もすなる日(にっ)記(き)といふものを、女(をんな)もしてみむとて、するなり。

     Otoko mo sunaru nikki to ifu mono o, onna mo shite mimu tote, suru nari.

     The so-called diaries that men are said to write - now, a woman will try her hand at writing one.

• This word is morphologically a clitic. It is classified as 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.
• Attaches to the 終止形 (shūshikei, “terminal form”) of most inflectable words, but to the 連体形 (rentaikei, “attributive form”) of ラ行変格活用 (“ra-irregular”) verbs. In the latter case, the final る is usually omitted in writing, e.g. あなり (anari) instead of あるなり (arunari); this is interpreted as unwritten 撥音便 (hatsuonbin), so that あなり (anari) is read as あんなり (annari).^[3]
• Conjectures based on something heard, as opposed to めり (meri) which conjectures based on something seen.

Reading of various words.

なり • (nari) 

1. 生り: bearing (of fruits)
2. 成り, 為り: (shogi) promotion

• Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN