# 奈



## 森人さん

What is the meaning of 奈？This kanji is used in Kanagawa and Nara. Some meanings found are good, ? , crabapple, ritual. I cannot find a definitive answer. I want to translate Kanagawa and Nara.



I have good god river and good good. Doesn't sound right.


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## frequency

森人さん said:


> I want to translate Kanagawa and Nara.


No, they're just the names of these prefectures.

We have some names that make significant meanings. 北京 seems to mean "northern city/capital" and 東京 "eastern city/capital". We have the prefecture called 三重, literally, threefold.  We don't know why it's 三重 at all, and this prefecture isn't made up of it. Of course we have theories that explain why they're called so respectively, but it's a different matter from the translating of the names.


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## 森人さん

I cant find a translation for the na character specifically. Used in Kanagawa and Nara.


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## frequency

At least Wiktionary suggests 奈:
訓読み
からなし、いかん、いかんせん、いかんぞ
名乗
なに、なん

からなし means "Chinese pear". いかん would be "no", いかんせん is "What can I do" or "Unfortunately". いかんぞ sounds to me like "no way".
And I don't understand 名乗, but なに、なん would be "what" or "how".

And the English version:
奈
1 how; why (used in rhetorical questions)
2 to bear; to stand; to endure
3 (Taiwan) The SI unit prefix nano-


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## 森人さん

So what is the meaning of Kanagawa and Nara?
Can it be translated?


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## frequency

森人さん said:


> Can it be translated?


Not really.
According to the theory considered the most plausible, the name Nara is originated from "Narashita chi". And in old times it had many more variations in kanji. As for Kanagawa, we also have some theories. It is at least clear that it says kawa, and I think we just use 神 for the sound ka, and 奈 for the sound na.


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## 森人さん

I am under the assumption that all kanji have a meaning. The na kanji must have a meaning to it.


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## Flaminius

Chinese characters have purely phonetic usages.  For both prefectures, 奈 is used only to procure the sound /na/.  Remember that Chinese characters are primarily for writing Chinese, a foreign language to Japanese people.  It is not surprising that some letters were incorporated into the Japanese language only partially.


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## 森人さん

Yes the term means endure in Chinese. In Japanese it means good or what. Apparently the term cannot be accurately translated in Nara and Kanagawa. Hmm



Direct Translations of Japanese Prefectures and Local Areas Names | TripleLights by Travelience


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## Flaminius

The senses “endure” and “what” (more accurately, part of one or two WH expressions) are in Chinese.  I don’t find the “good” sense in Chinese dictionaries.  It’s not part of the Japanese vocabulary, either.  We do not have a word pronounced _na_ that means “good.”  You must be referring to the sense of 良.

I must tell you that  “direct translations” of Japanese place names are not always accurate.  A lot of characters with positive senses are used as phonetic representations and as embellishments.  The etymologies of 愛知 and 福島 have nothing to do with love, wisdom or good luck.


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## 森人さん

love wisdom and blessed island


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## Contrafibularity

In old times, 神奈川 were called 神奈河、神名川、上無川 (and probably more).  What we can say for sure is those names originated in a river and should have been pronounced more or less similarly.

In place names, kanji are often used to get the right sound, so 神 for 神奈川 might have nothing to with any gods.  Translating place names could lead to a misrepresentation, especially if you wanted a "right" translation.


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## 森人さん

I see.  All kanji have a meaning so I translate it as what good for nara and good god river for kanagawa.


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