Ambiguity of nouns that convey feelings


I wanted to ask about an ambiguity I have encountered concerning nouns in
Japanese, in particular nouns that convey feelings.

For example, the noun 躊躇 in this sentence from 金閣寺 by Mishima Yukio:

> 未だ見ぬ金閣に愈接する時が近付くに連れ、私の心には **躊躇** が生じた。

Does 躊躇 refer to the action of hesitating itself, or does it mean to hesitate
to do something or hesitate about something?

I am confused between the action itself and the object of the action.

Another example:

> 疑問を抱く

Is it "to hold doubt" as a feeling or there is something being doubted?




In this answer I am going to discuss the particular case of the word 躊躇,
although it may extrapolate to other similar terms.

# Examining example sentences

If you look up [example sentences using
躊躇](https://ejje.weblio.jp/sentence/content/%E8%BA%8A%E8%BA%87), you will see
that the word can used in either of the two ways you describe:

  1. The action of hesitating or state of being hesitant
  2. Hesitating about something in particular

I picked some example sentences from the provided link for both usages:

### Sense 1

> ハインズ氏は少しぐずぐずと躊躇していた。Mr. Hynes hesitated a little longer.

> もし何か質問があれば、躊躇せずに私に聞いてください。If you have any questions please ask without
> hesitation.

### Sense 2

> 私はそれに躊躇していました。I hesitated about that.

> 助けを求めるのに躊躇しないで下さい。Don't hesitate to ask for help.

> このことを彼女に伝えようかどうか躊躇している。I am hesitant about whether or not I should tell this
> to her.

### Ambiguous

> これを見て、わたしは躊躇しました。

If we examine the examples for Sense 2, the thing that one is hesitating about
is marked by the particle に, although other particles such as かどうか also work
here. I also chose a more ambiguous sentence, to highlight that context is
crucial. In that last case, we can't really tell if わたし is hesitating about
something in particular or not because we lack context. For example:

[Context: I'm about to cross a street when the traffic light is blinking and
about to turn red, Sense 1]

> これ[信号]を見て、わたしは[道を渡ろうか]躊躇しました。

[Context: I'm about to give a presentation in front of an audience and it
turns out there is way more people than I expected, which makes me hesitant,
Sense 2]

> これ[観客]を見て、わたしは躊躇しました。

Please note that some sources for the provided example sentences are not
reliable, particularly the ones coming from Tanaka corpus, because they are
not necessarily written by native speakers nor being subject to curation or
revision.

# Examining your particular sentence

> 未だ見ぬ金閣に愈接する時が近付くに連れヽ私の心には躊躇が生じた。As the time to finally touch the Golden
> Pavilion, which I hadn't seen yet, got closer and closer, hesitation arised
> within my heart.

I'm inclined to believe that in this sentence, 躊躇 is used in the sense 1
specially because the emotional part of it is emphasized by saying that the
feeling arised in one's heart (心には躊躇が生じた). Also note that 躊躇 is used as a noun
here, not as a verb. To use it in sense 2. it would probably require to use it
with する:

> 未だ見ぬ金閣に愈接する時が近付くに連れ、実際に行くのに躊躇し始めた。As the time to finally touch the Golden
> Pavilion, which I hadn't seen yet, got closer and closer, I started to
> hesitate if I should go.

# Takeaway

The word 躊躇 can be used in both ways, either to convey a feeling of
"hesitation" or to signify "hesitation to do something or about something". In
some cases it would be clear (for example if the particle に is used), but
there might be other instances where context is absolutely necessary to
determine if its one usage or the other. As in many other aspects of Japanese,
context is essential.

