Where does “だい” come from?
だい (Middle Chinese) comes from Japanese い, from Japanese や, from Japanese じゃ, from Japanese である, from Japanese で, from Japanese ぜ, from Japanese ぞえ, from Japanese え.
Ancestry of “だい”, step by step
だい traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Japanese い
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japanese | い | Used in compounds with certain sentence-ending... |
| 2 | Japanese | や | and/or; is, are; Alternative form of いや |
| 3 | Japanese | じゃ | so, then—used for connecting to a reasonable... |
| 4 | Japanese | である | To be: the copula, with the same function as だ and its polite form です |
| 5 | Japanese | で | at; with, by, using; indicating the following... |
| 6 | Japanese | ぜ | sentence-ending particle signifying emphasis,... |
| 7 | Japanese | ぞえ | sentence-ending particle signifying emphasis, used to lightly press one's point, with affectionate overtones |
| 8 | Japanese | え | Alternative form of い |
| 9 | Middle Chinese | 衣 | — |
via Japanese だ
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japanese | だ | Following parts of speech that do not inflect by... |