What does ゴン part in イノゴン mean?


I know what イノ is from イノシシ (wild boar), and I thought maybe ゴン is
onomatopoeia for slam sound. Am I right or it's something else?




I would not necessarily call it an onomatopoeia. It should have more to do
with what Japanese syllables sound strong and therefore suitable for monster
names for the native speakers.

Those syllables are fairly widely believed to be ガギグゲゴ. There is even a book
entitled 「怪獣{かいじゅう}の名{な}はなぜガギグゲゴなのか」.

[https://www.shinchosha.co.jp/book/610078/#&gid=null&pid=1](https://www.shinchosha.co.jp/book/610078/#&gid=null&pid=1)

「ゴン」 is a common ending among monster names without a clear meaning. I have no
idea how that would sound to the speakers of your language, but it just sounds
very monster-like to us Japanese-speakers after having grown up hearing and
uttering so many monster names ending in 「ゴン」.

Back in college, a linguistics professor told us that 「ゴン」 probably came from
「ドラゴン」, which is indeed a very powerful imaginary "monster".

「ゴジラ」 is no exception, either. Despite what its "English" spelling might
suggest, it has nothing to do with "god". That is said to be a combination of
the strong-sounding 「ゴ」 from 「ゴリラ」 and the 「ジラ」 from 「クジラ」 ("whale"). Big and
strong is the name of the game.

We even used to call the scary, demanding and monster-like mothers
[ママゴン](https://ja.uncyclopedia.info/wiki/%E3%83%9E%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B4%E3%83%B3).

Finally, one day back in my 4th- or 5th-grade, the entire classroom burst into
laughter when our teacher uttered the U.S. state name 「オレゴン」. It sounded like
the name of a highly self-centered monster to us.




I would not necessarily call it an onomatopoeia. It should have more to do
with what Japanese syllables sound strong and therefore suitable for monster
names for the native speakers.

Those syllables are fairly widely believed to be ガギグゲゴ. There is even a book
entitled 「怪獣{かいじゅう}の名{な}はなぜガギグゲゴなのか」.

[https://www.shinchosha.co.jp/book/610078/#&gid=null&pid=1](https://www.shinchosha.co.jp/book/610078/#&gid=null&pid=1)

「ゴン」 is a common ending among monster names without a clear meaning. I have no
idea how that would sound to the speakers of your language, but it just sounds
very monster-like to us Japanese-speakers after having grown up hearing and
uttering so many monster names ending in 「ゴン」.

Back in college, a linguistics professor told us that 「ゴン」 probably came from
「ドラゴン」, which is indeed a very powerful imaginary "monster".

「ゴジラ」 is no exception, either. Despite what its "English" spelling might
suggest, it has nothing to do with "god". That is said to be a combination of
the strong-sounding 「ゴ」 from 「ゴリラ」 and the 「ジラ」 from 「クジラ」 ("whale"). Big and
strong is the name of the game.

We even used to call the scary, demanding and monster-like mothers
[ママゴン](https://ja.uncyclopedia.info/wiki/%E3%83%9E%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B4%E3%83%B3).

Finally, one day back in my 4th- or 5th-grade, the entire classroom burst into
laughter when our teacher uttered the U.S. state name 「オレゴン」. It sounded like
the name of a highly self-centered monster to us.

