KAMIOKANDE - Are there any hidden (semantic or phonetic) associations for native speakers?


[KAMIOKANDE](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AB%E3%83%9F%E3%82%AA%E3%82%AB%E3%83%B3%E3%83%87)
is a neutrino detector experiment located near Kamioka and stands for "Kamioka
Nucleon Decay Experiment". Now, many scientific facilities but also processes
or methods are named to resemble a certain meaning or famous name: e.g. HERA:
hadron-electron ring accelerator, FROG: frequency resolved optical gating,
CARS: coherent anti-stokes raman spectroscopy, etc. etc. ... Does KAMIOKANDE
carry also a second meaning?

My first guesses would be something like: 紙を噛んで or 神を噛んで which would both make
in a funny way sense for me. The first one because there is so much paperwork
involved and the second because fundamental physical laws are being elicited
(e.g. through an effort for which you need to grit your teeth get through ;-)
)

Or is simply my understanding of pronounciation so far off the mark that it
simply means 神岡NDE, because the pitch accent of 神岡 is different from 紙を噛 or
神を噛?




I'm pretty certain that it has nothing to do with 紙, 噛んで, or any other simple
pun. I don't think the ンデ or カンデ part in カミオカンデ has any special meaning as a
word or morpheme on its own.

However, the name as a whole does have a vibe reminiscent of ["robot anime"
from the 1970-1980s](https://thessouroom.blogspot.com/2016/01/animelist.html).
I think many native Japanese people who were young at that time would somewhat
notice this. It's difficult for me to articulate what kind of names sound like
robots, but when placed alongside works like ライジンオー and ゴライオン, the name カミオカンデ
fits in naturally. In this regard, I can definitely sense a playful spirit in
the name.




I'm pretty certain that it has nothing to do with 紙, 噛んで, or any other simple
pun. I don't think the ンデ or カンデ part in カミオカンデ has any special meaning as a
word or morpheme on its own.

However, the name as a whole does have a vibe reminiscent of ["robot anime"
from the 1970-1980s](https://thessouroom.blogspot.com/2016/01/animelist.html).
I think many native Japanese people who were young at that time would somewhat
notice this. It's difficult for me to articulate what kind of names sound like
robots, but when placed alongside works like ライジンオー and ゴライオン, the name カミオカンデ
fits in naturally. In this regard, I can definitely sense a playful spirit in
the name.

