Where does “天の川” come from?
天の川 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 天, from Old Japanese 天, from Proto-Japonic *amay.
天の川 (Japanese): Milky Way
Ancestry of “天の川”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Japanese | 天 | the sky, the heavens; the area above a kitchen... |
| 2 | Old Japanese | 天 | sky, heavens |
| 3 | Proto-Japonic | *amay | — |