がじゃん : gajan | define meaning

Cognate with Tanegashima and Tokara がじゃぶ gajabu "(small) black fly"; Kikai and Amami がじゃみ gajami; Kikai がじゃまー gajamaa; Amami (Koniya) がじゃﾑ gajam; Tokunoshima がじゃん gajan; Yoron がじゃん gajan; Yoron (Mugiya) がーじゃん gaajan; Okinoerabu がじゃむ gajamu; Kunigami (Kin) がじゃむ gajamu; Kunigami (Oku) がだみ gadami; Kunigami (Benoki) がらむ garamu; Okinawan がじゃん gajan; Miyako (Irabu, Yonaha) がざﾑ gazam; Miyako (Ikema) かじゃん kajan; Miyako (Irabu) かざﾑ kazam; Tarama がじゃﾑ gajam; Yaeyama (Hateruma) がんざん ganzan; Yaeyama (Taketomi) かじゃん kajan; Yaeyama (Hatoma) がざん gazan; and Yonaguni かだんく kadanku "mosquito".

Historical attestations:

• 沖縄語典 Okinawa goten (Okinawan language dictionary) (1896), by Masayo Nakamoto, records "「がぢやん」蚊（カ）".
• In On the manners and customs of the Loochoans (1893), Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Volume 21, Basil Hall Chamberlain records "a 'mosquito' is gajang; a mosquito emphasised is gajanō'".

Reconstructions

• Zachary Read (2024) gives *[k~g]azjamu for proto-Ryukyuan and reconstructs a compound of *[k~g]azi- "biting" and *amu "horsefly" for pre-proto-Ryukyuan (with Kyushu having *abu for the second morpheme). Compare Japanese がじがじ gajigaji "biting" and かじる【齧る】 kajiru "to bite".
• Yosuke Igarashi (2016) reconstructs *kazamV for proto-Ryukyuan; while Igarashi (2017) reconstructs *kazja(-CV); and Igarashi (2018) gives *kazjamV (pattern C).

Discussion:

• Phonologically similar to standard Japanese がざみ【蝤蛑】 gazami "Asian blue crab" and its variants かざみ kazami, がさみ gasami and がざめ gazame. Reflexes in Ryukyuan include Okinawan がじゃみ gajami and Yaeyama (Hatoma) がさみ gasami. It's possible this word influenced a *u > *i vowel shift in some Northern Ryukyuan varieties.
• The topicalized form "gajanō" recorded by Chamberlain (1893) suggests a final *N rather than *M for Shuri Okinawan at the time.