How does adding 手 to the beginning of an adjective change its meaning?


There are several adjectives that are formed by attaching 「手」 to more common
adjectives:

  * 手厳しい
  * 手堅い
  * 手早い
  * 手広い
  * 手短い

But most of the time this does not seem to change the meaning of the adjective
very much.

  * 厳しい _severe; strict; rigid_  
手厳しい _severe; harsh_

  * 堅い _hard; solid_  
手堅い _steady; firm_

  * 早い _fast; quick_  
手早い _nimble; quick; agile_

  * 広い _spacious; vast_  
手広い _spacious; roomy_

  * 短い _short_  
手短い _short; brief_

Can these adjectives be used interchangeably? What does the 手 prefix mean, and
how does it change the meaning of the adjective?




To expand on sawa's answer a bit (and sawa/anyone else, do correct me if I am
wrong about any of this; it is mostly based on observation, not hard
research)...

This 手 originally conveyed a nuance of "handling," "doing," "dealing with",
etc. and only later started to take on a more general meaning. So, speaking
generally, the plain adjective might have many meanings, including gross
physical ones, but the 手- version tends to refer to _behavior_ or at least
some implied "use case."

  * 堅い = hard, solid, rigid, tough, firm, stubborn (of objects and people, physical and metaphorical) vs 手堅い = sure, firm (of behavior/attitude)
  * ぬるい = lukewarm, tepid, sluggish (of things and people, physical and metaphorical) vs てぬるい = lenient, non-harsh (of behavior/attitude)
  * 狭い = narrow, restricted (of places/viewpoints/etc., physical and metaphorical) vs 手狭 = narrow (of places, when considered in the context of some [implied] _behavior_ )
  * 短い = short (physical, metaphorical) vs 手短か = brief, concise (of a text, etc.)

Another example: in Nishiwaki Junzaburo's translation of Shakespeare's 18th
sonnet, the "rough windes" that "shake the darling buds of Maie" are 手荒い:
"手荒い風は五月の蕾をふるわし..." The winds are active, they have _behavior_. (There may be
some anthropomorphizing going on here too.)

As a related observation to the above, note that there are no 手 words for
adjectives conveying purely emotional states (e.g. no 手楽しい or 手悲しい) or
characteristics that are observed rather than "received" as behavior (e.g. no
手美しい or 手明るい).

I don't claim that this is a hard-and-fast distinction, or even a completely
reliable rule of thumb -- and as noted the prefix did slide towards a more
general intensifying meaning -- but it might be helpful when considering how
these adjectives differ from their unprefixed versions.

Some other observations:

  * 手- is not "productive" in Modern Japanese. That is, you can use 手- words that are already in the language, but you can't attach 手 to any adjective you like (not without thereby coining a new word, anyway).
  * 手- does not combine with Sino-Japanese words or other loanwords. There is no 手丁寧な or 手ハードな.




To expand on sawa's answer a bit (and sawa/anyone else, do correct me if I am
wrong about any of this; it is mostly based on observation, not hard
research)...

This 手 originally conveyed a nuance of "handling," "doing," "dealing with",
etc. and only later started to take on a more general meaning. So, speaking
generally, the plain adjective might have many meanings, including gross
physical ones, but the 手- version tends to refer to _behavior_ or at least
some implied "use case."

  * 堅い = hard, solid, rigid, tough, firm, stubborn (of objects and people, physical and metaphorical) vs 手堅い = sure, firm (of behavior/attitude)
  * ぬるい = lukewarm, tepid, sluggish (of things and people, physical and metaphorical) vs てぬるい = lenient, non-harsh (of behavior/attitude)
  * 狭い = narrow, restricted (of places/viewpoints/etc., physical and metaphorical) vs 手狭 = narrow (of places, when considered in the context of some [implied] _behavior_ )
  * 短い = short (physical, metaphorical) vs 手短か = brief, concise (of a text, etc.)

Another example: in Nishiwaki Junzaburo's translation of Shakespeare's 18th
sonnet, the "rough windes" that "shake the darling buds of Maie" are 手荒い:
"手荒い風は五月の蕾をふるわし..." The winds are active, they have _behavior_. (There may be
some anthropomorphizing going on here too.)

As a related observation to the above, note that there are no 手 words for
adjectives conveying purely emotional states (e.g. no 手楽しい or 手悲しい) or
characteristics that are observed rather than "received" as behavior (e.g. no
手美しい or 手明るい).

I don't claim that this is a hard-and-fast distinction, or even a completely
reliable rule of thumb -- and as noted the prefix did slide towards a more
general intensifying meaning -- but it might be helpful when considering how
these adjectives differ from their unprefixed versions.

Some other observations:

  * 手- is not "productive" in Modern Japanese. That is, you can use 手- words that are already in the language, but you can't attach 手 to any adjective you like (not without thereby coining a new word, anyway).
  * 手- does not combine with Sino-Japanese words or other loanwords. There is no 手丁寧な or 手ハードな.

