Why are dogs asked to 「おすわり」 instead of 「すわれ」


In the manga Inuyasha, the heroine Kagome acquires the ability to force the
titular Dog-Yokai to fall over by saying 「おすわり」.

I figured this must be a typical dog training command, but I wondered why it
was not a more direct comamand such as 「すわれ」or at least 「すわって」.

I haven't studied Japanese in a while, but I didn't realise this was a verb
form at all. I thought that "pre ます" form didn't have any grammatical function
without ます, and adding the polite initial-お seemed strange when talking to a
dog.

Sure enough, according to this question [Japanese Dog Training
Commands](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/25155/japanese-dog-
training-commands)

most other commands are in a direct imperative form, so what makes おすわり
special, and what shades of meaning does a verb in "お-verb-り" form convey that
すわって、すわれ etc do not.




Pre-masu form (aka masu-stem, verb stem) has an important grammatical
function; [it (sometimes) works as a
noun](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/32299/5010)! So おすわり is sort of a
"noun form" of すわる. Plain nouns are sometimes used as commands also in
English, e.g., "Order!" "Attention!"

Regarding the prefix お, note that [not all words that have it are honorific
words](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/18723/5010). I don't know who
firstly used お座り, but I think it was originally a mere beautifier/美化語 like お水.
Now, お in お座り is an integral part of the word. Long ago, some verb-stems
accepted お and formed a compound words with special meanings. For example,
[お絞り](http://jisho.org/word/%E3%81%8A%E7%B5%9E%E3%82%8A) is completely
different from [絞り](http://jisho.org/word/%E7%B5%9E%E3%82%8A), and
[お笑い](http://jisho.org/word/%E3%81%8A%E7%AC%91%E3%81%84) is different from
[笑い](http://jisho.org/word/%E7%AC%91%E3%81%84).

[お預け](http://jisho.org/word/%E3%81%8A%E9%A0%90%E3%81%91) ("Wait!") is another
popular dog command.

* * *

**EDIT** : On second thought, I think there is another way of viewing this. `お
+ masu-stem` is a way of casually ordering something to someone lower than
you. For example one can say (to a human):

>   * さあ、お行き【LHH】。 Now, you must go.
>   * 早くお食べ【LHH】。 Finish eating.
>   * ここに おすわり【LHHH】。 Sit down here.
>   * おだまり【LHHH】！ Shut up!
>

This pattern is dated, and basically only elderly people in fiction or people
in samurai dramas use this pattern (except for lexicalized greetings like
おやすみ【LHHH】 and おかえり【LHHH】). In addition, accent is very different (which is
why I did not notice this at first):

  * おすわり【LHLL】。 (to a dog)
  * おすわり【LHHH】。 (to a human)

For おすわり, I think both explanations work. But おあずけ definitely has a special
meaning as a noun, so my original explanation may be more generic.




Pre-masu form (aka masu-stem, verb stem) has an important grammatical
function; [it (sometimes) works as a
noun](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/32299/5010)! So おすわり is sort of a
"noun form" of すわる. Plain nouns are sometimes used as commands also in
English, e.g., "Order!" "Attention!"

Regarding the prefix お, note that [not all words that have it are honorific
words](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/18723/5010). I don't know who
firstly used お座り, but I think it was originally a mere beautifier/美化語 like お水.
Now, お in お座り is an integral part of the word. Long ago, some verb-stems
accepted お and formed a compound words with special meanings. For example,
[お絞り](http://jisho.org/word/%E3%81%8A%E7%B5%9E%E3%82%8A) is completely
different from [絞り](http://jisho.org/word/%E7%B5%9E%E3%82%8A), and
[お笑い](http://jisho.org/word/%E3%81%8A%E7%AC%91%E3%81%84) is different from
[笑い](http://jisho.org/word/%E7%AC%91%E3%81%84).

[お預け](http://jisho.org/word/%E3%81%8A%E9%A0%90%E3%81%91) ("Wait!") is another
popular dog command.

* * *

**EDIT** : On second thought, I think there is another way of viewing this. `お
+ masu-stem` is a way of casually ordering something to someone lower than
you. For example one can say (to a human):

>   * さあ、お行き【LHH】。 Now, you must go.
>   * 早くお食べ【LHH】。 Finish eating.
>   * ここに おすわり【LHHH】。 Sit down here.
>   * おだまり【LHHH】！ Shut up!
>

This pattern is dated, and basically only elderly people in fiction or people
in samurai dramas use this pattern (except for lexicalized greetings like
おやすみ【LHHH】 and おかえり【LHHH】). In addition, accent is very different (which is
why I did not notice this at first):

  * おすわり【LHLL】。 (to a dog)
  * おすわり【LHHH】。 (to a human)

For おすわり, I think both explanations work. But おあずけ definitely has a special
meaning as a noun, so my original explanation may be more generic.

