Where does “体言” come from?

体言 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 体, from Middle Chinese 體.

体言 (Japanese): a Japanese or Korean word that does not inflect and can be used as a grammatical subject

Definitions

  1. a Japanese or Korean word that does not inflect and can be used as a grammatical subject

Ancestry of “体言”, step by step

体言 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 体

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese体In general: the body, e.g. of a human or animal;...
2Middle Chinese體—

via Japanese 言

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese言word; parole
2Middle Chinese言—
Every word from Middle Chinese 體 →Every word from Japanese 体 →