Where to post Japanese Language Request?

[EdZiomek]

I am an amateur historian, as many on this website know. I would like to ask an academic question about the Japanese suffixes used for Japanese City names...

Examples...

gawa
hama Yokohama
ichi
jima
kaga
kawa
kata
kaya
mata
matsu
miya
moto
nabe
naka
nawa
saki
sako
saka
shima
shiwa
yama
zowa

Let me advise you in advance that I would like to address academics on this website who might know the specific definition of these suffixes.

For example, I have been told that "jima" means... "island".

I am fascinated by the plausible "appearance" that the syntax of many Japanese city names are very similar to the 4-syllable "appearance" of Egyptian and Babylonian names, (which may or may NOT have anything in common, I agree)
The first two syllables were the name, the last two syllables were the title.

Ah-ken, At-en meant... Ah-ken, "believer in the sun God Aten".

"Hiro shima" plausible translates into the Egyptian.... Horus, "Warriors of"

I am asking for an academic historian knowledgeable in old Japanese if he/she could explain the suffix naming convention of the above list.

Where do I post on your great website?

Thanks in advance for any ideas....

Ed Ziomek

[bossel]

Moved it to Learning Japanese. As long as you keep it to knowledge about Japanese suffixes, that's where it probably belongs.

A good place to start for you would be Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_place_name).

Quote:
Japanese place names include names for geographic features, present and former administrative divisions, transportation facilities such as railroad stations, and historic sites in Japan. The article Japanese addressing system contains related information on postal addresses.

Each name usually ends with a suffix specific to a kind of place, as follows.

* -fu (府) for an "urban prefecture." There are two: Ōsaka-fu and Kyōto-fu (Ōsaka Prefecture, Kyōto Prefecture, respectively)
* -gun (郡) for a district
* -shi (市) for a city
* -machi or -chō (町) for a town. Can be a local government or a non-governmental division of a larger city
* -mura or -son (村) for a village; e.g., Kamikuishiki-mura (Kamikuishiki). Can be a local government or a nongovernmental division of a larger city or town
* -ken (県) for a prefecture; e.g., Yamanashi-ken (Yamanashi Prefecture)
* -to (都) for Tōkyō-to (Tōkyō)
* -ku (区) for a ward of a city; e.g., Naka-ku in Hiroshima. Also for one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo; these are separate local governments nearly equivalent to cities

Some names contain a word indicating a direction:
[...]
Other names contain a word indicating the time when a settlement arose:
[...]

Geographic features figure prominently in Japanese place names. Some examples are

* hantō (半島) for a peninsula; e.g., Izu Hanto
* ishi (石) or iwa (岩) for a rock; e.g., Ishikawa Prefecture; Iwate Prefecture
* izumi (泉) for a spring; e.g., Hiraizumi, Iwate
* kaikyō (海峡) for a strait; e.g., Bungo kaikyō
* kawa or -gawa (川) for a river; e.g., Asakawa
* ko (湖) for a lake; e.g., Biwako
* nada (灘) for a sea
* oka (岡) for a hill; e.g., Fukuoka
* saki (崎) or misaki (岬) for a promontory
* san or -zan (山) for a mountain; e.g., Asosan
* sawa or -zawa (沢) for a stream; e.g., Mizusawa, Iwate
* shima or -jima (島) or tō for an island; e.g., Ie-shima, Iwo Jima, Okinawa Honto
* tani or -dani (谷) for a valley
* wan (湾) for a headland or bay; e.g., Sagami-wan
* yama (山) for a mountain; e.g., Yamanashi Prefecture

Other words that express the natural world or agriculture often appear in place names:[...]

[NANGI]

Konnichiwa EdZiomek-san!

hama（浜） means "beach".
kata（潟） means "lagoon".
kata(形) means "model" or "pattern". Most of all "形" in the name of place means "the lay of the land".
mata（股・叉・俣） means "forked" or "diverge".
matsu（松） means "pine tree".
miya（宮） means "Imperial villa" or "Shinto shrine".
moto（元・本） "foot".
nabe（辺） means "neighborhood" or "vicinity".
naka（中） means "inside".

NANGI