Where does “取り返しがつかない” come from?
取り返しがつかない (Japanese) comes from Japanese が, from Finnish -nka — Forms nouns, mainly bird names (in dialects) and some toponyms.
Ancestry of “取り返しがつかない”, step by step
取り返しがつかない traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via Japanese が
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Japanese | が | Indicates the subject of a sentence; conjunction;... |
| 2 | Finnish | -nka | Forms nouns, mainly bird names (in dialects) and some toponyms |
via Japanese 付く
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Japanese | 付く | attach itself to, stick, stick to, adhere, adhere... |
via Japanese 取り返し
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Japanese | 取り返し | recovery, restoration |