Where does “東日本大震災” come from?

東日本大震災 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 大震災, from Japanese 大, from Old Japanese 大, from Proto-Japonic əpə — big, large; many.

東日本大震災 (Japanese): The Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, the earthquake and tsunami that hit Eastern Japan on March 11, 2011

Definitions

  1. The Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, the earthquake and tsunami that hit Eastern Japan on March 11, 2011

Ancestry of “東日本大震災”, step by step

東日本大震災 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 大震災

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese大震災great disaster resulting from an earthquake
2Japanese大big, large; the large part of; arch-
3Old Japanese大big, large; large
4Proto-Japonicəpəbig, large; many

via Japanese 東日本

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese東日本—
Every word from Proto-Japonic əpə →Every word from Old Japanese 大 →Every word from Japanese 大 →