とわ

Japanese
Alternative spellings
永遠
永久
常

Etymology

/toba/ → /towa/

From Old Japanese. Appears in the Tales of Ise, likely dating to the early 900s CE. Pronounced as toba until the later Heian period.[1]

Ultimate derivation unknown. May be a contraction of earlier 常 (tokotoba),[1] or may have been an independent term used to form tokotoba as a compound.[2]

Pronunciation

Adjective

とわ • (towa) ←とは (tofa)? -na (adnominal とわな (towa na), adverbial とわに (towa ni))

  1. constant, permanent, everlasting
    Synonym: 常しえ (tokoshie)

Usage notes

Listed in some dictionaries[1][3][5] as a 形容動詞 (keiyō dōshi, “-na adjective”); other sources[2] only list this as a 副詞 (fukushi, “adverb”). Historical usage suggests that this was only used with particle に (ni) as an adverb, and not with particle な (na) or classical なる (naru) as an adjective. When this appears attributively, it is followed by particle の (no),[3][5][2] the usual construction when using a noun to modify another noun.

Inflection
Inflection of とわ
Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形) とわだろ towa daro
Continuative (連用形) とわで towa de
Terminal (終止形) とわだ towa da
Attributive (連体形) とわな towa na
Hypothetical (仮定形) とわなら towa nara
Imperative (命令形) とわであれ towa de are
Key constructions
Informal negative とわではない
とわじゃない		 towa de wa nai
towa ja nai
Informal past とわだった towa datta
Informal negative past とわではなかった
とわじゃなかった		 towa de wa nakatta
towa ja nakatta
Formal とわです towa desu
Formal negative とわではありません
とわじゃありません		 towa de wa arimasen
towa ja arimasen
Formal past とわでした towa deshita
Formal negative past とわではありませんでした
とわじゃありませんでした		 towa de wa arimasen deshita
towa ja arimasen deshita
Conjunctive とわで towa de
Conditional とわなら（ば） towa nara (ba)
Provisional とわだったら towa dattara
Volitional とわだろう towa darō
Adverbial とわに towa ni
Degree とわさ towasa

Synonyms

Noun

とわ • (towa) ←とは (tofa)?

  1. eternity
  2. constancy, permanence, everlastingness
    Synonym: 常しえ (tokoshie)

References
  1. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 1997, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  4. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
  5. 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
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