Where does “大本営” come from?

大本営 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 大, from Old Japanese 大, from Proto-Japonic əpə — big, large; many.

大本営 (Japanese): the Imperial General Headquarters

Definitions

  1. the Imperial General Headquarters

Ancestry of “大本営”, step by step

大本営 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 大

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese大big, large; the large part of; arch-
2Old Japanese大big, large; large
3Proto-Japonicəpəbig, large; many

via Japanese 本営

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese本営headquarters
Every word from Proto-Japonic əpə →Every word from Old Japanese 大 →Every word from Japanese 大 →