Does 左様なら (sayōnara) have Chinese roots?


A related question: [What does さようなら (左様なら) have to do with
"left"?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/4335/what-
does-%e3%81%95%e3%82%88%e3%81%86%e3%81%aa%e3%82%89-%e5%b7%a6%e6%a7%98%e3%81%aa%e3%82%89-have-
to-do-with-left)

The English-language A.Word.A.Day list this week is doing a "Words borrowed
from Japanese" theme; today's word was
[sayonara](https://wordsmith.org/words/sayonara.html). The etymology cited
there says:

> From Japanese sayonara (goodbye), short for sayo naraba (if it is to be that
> way), from sayo (thus) + naraba (if it be), ultimately from Chinese.
> Earliest documented use: 1863.

This feels a bit off to me. I also happened upon [this
source](https://okwave.jp/qa/q6773033.html) cited in the other answer, and
[another
source](https://eigobu.jp/magazine/sayou#:~:text=%E3%80%8C%E5%B7%A6%E6%A7%98%E3%80%8D%E3%81%AE%E8%AA%9E%E6%BA%90%E3%81%AF%E3%80%8C%E7%84%B6%E6%A7%98%E3%80%8D,-%E7%9B%B8%E6%89%8B%E3%81%AB%E8%82%AF%E5%AE%9A&text=%E5%85%83%E3%80%85%E3%80%8C%E5%B7%A6%E6%A7%98%E3%80%8D%E3%81%AF%E3%80%8C%E7%84%B6,%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%AB%E3%81%AA%E3%82%8A%E3%81%BE%E3%81%97%E3%81%9F%E3%80%82)
briefly discussing the history of 左様; neither mentions anything specifically
about Chinese.

My instincts tell me that both さ and なら are "native" Japanese
words/constructions (よう feels more like an 音読み), which would completely remove
Chinese from the etymology as the characters would be a "back-formation"
rather than a Chinese borrowing. I also didn't see anything in my Chinese
dictionary for 左様 or 然様, though it's possible the word was borrowed to
Japanese and then lost in Chinese.




Let's dive into this etymology.

_(My reference, unless otherwise stated, is Shogakukan's_ 国語大辞典. _I've got a
dead-tree copy, and there's also a decent online version available for free
via[Kotobank](https://kotobank.jp/). Note that Kotobank's layout is a bit
confusing for terms spelled with kanji that have multiple readings.)_

### Sense development

  * さようなら  
Listed
[here](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%95%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%AA%E3%82%89-2043504)
as first appearing in texts from around 1742. Derived as a shortening of
さようならば.

  * さようならば  
Listed
[here](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%95%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%AA%E3%82%89%E3%81%B0-2043505)
as first appearing in texts from around the late 1500s, early 1600s, as a
conjunction. The meaning was as expected from its parts: [さよう]{like that, that
way} + [ならば]{if it be}. The "goodbye" sense appears later, cited to a text
from 1791.

→ We can surmise that the "goodbye" sense for either form probably showed up
in the early 1700s.

### Derivation of the parts

  * さよう  
First cited in the 伊勢【いせ】物語【ものがたり】 ([ _The Tales of
Ise_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tales_of_Ise)) of the early 900s.  
This is a compound of さ ("that", medial distal marker, cognate with modern そ)
+ よう ("way, manner, appearance").

    * さ  
First appears in the Nara period (710–794) with the form さて. The shorter さ
then appears from the Heian period (794–1185). Modern そう was formerly さう, and
this さ may be the first component of that.  
Commonly spelled 然 in references. While cognate with the そ in words like
そこ・それ・そなた etc., the そ version was used for physical and concrete things, while
さ was used for abstract and psychological things.  
Note that the character 然 is borrowed from Chinese, but the reading _sa_ is
purely Japanese. 然 in Middle Chinese was read as something like //ȵiᴇn//
instead, resulting in the modern Japanese _on'yomi_ of _zen_.

    * よう  
Commonly spelled 様 in references. This is the only component of this phrase
that derives from Chinese, specifically from earlier glyph form 樣
("appearance; form; look").  
[In]{ } Middle Chinese when this was first borrowed into Japanese, the
pronunciation was probably something like //jɨɐŋ// (the "j" here represents a
sound like "y" in English; reconstructed based on linguistic research into
sound changes and sound correspondences). The historical kana spelling in
Japanese is やう, representing how it was probably first pronounced in Japanese:
//jau//. (We see the same //au// → //oː// shift here as we saw above with さう.)

  * ならば  
The term さよう is a 形容動詞【けいようどうし】 or " _-na_ adjective". The _-na_ modifier
particle in modern Japanese comes from older attributive (noun-modifying) なる,
which comes from a contraction of even older に + ある. This なる developed some
time in the Heian period when 形容動詞【けいようどうし】 were first used.  
[The]{ } ならば in さようならば, the oldest form of this term, is this older なる for
_-na_ adjectives, conjugated into the conditional or hypothetical form.

    * In modern Japanese, the conditional / hypoethetical is created by adding a ば onto the conditional / hypothetical verb stem, which ends in _-e_ (sometimes with an extra _-r-_ in the middle). Consider 行【い】く → 行けば, or 食【た】べる → 食【た】べれば. This _-e_ stem evolved from the ancient / classical 已然形【いぜんけい】 or "realis conjugation" which expressed something that is or could be real, used in subjunctive or suppositional constructions.
    * ~~In ancient Japanese, the conditional / hypothetical could be formed using the _-e_ stem, or also by using the _-a_ stem -- also called the 未然形【みぜんけい】 or "irrealis conjugation" which expressed something that isn't real. This is the same as the modern _-a_ verb stem used for negatives.~~  
~~([There]{ } seems to have been some subtlety of meaning differentiating the
_-eba_ usage from the _-aba_ usage, but I haven't yet read a fuller
exploration of that topic.)~~

**Update:** I've learned a bit more about classical Japanese since I wrote the
strikethrough portion above.

  * In classical usage, the _-eba_ ending was a conditional, a bit like English "because". This uses the classical 已然形【いぜんけい】 or "realis conjugation", talking about something that has happened or is assumed will happen.

    * 「XXXす[れ]{●}[ば]{●}、YYY...」 means " _because_ you're doing XXX, _then_ YYY".
    * 「XXXへ行[け]{●}[ば]{●}、YYY...」 means " _because_ you're going to XXX, _then_ YYY".
  * Meanwhile, the _-aba_ ending was a hypothetical, a bit like English "if". This uses the classical 未然形【みぜんけい】 or "irrealis conjugation", talking about something that hasn't happened (maybe not yet, maybe never will).

    * 「XXX[せ]{●}[ば]{●}、YYY」 means " _if_ you do XXX, _then_ YYY".
    * 「XXXへ行[か]{●}[ば]{●}、YYY」 means " _if_ you go to XXX, _then_ YYY".

### Conclusion

The only piece with any Chinese derivation is 様【よう】. The best interpretation
of the etymology given in _A Word A Day_ is that it was somewhat scrambled,
and the "ultimately from Chinese" portion wound up in the wrong place in the
sentence.

### Addendum

Part of my family background is from Minnesota. When I was first learning
Japanese and was taught the background meaning of さようなら, I realized it
basically parses out to "well, if that's the way it's going to be" -- which
somehow seems like a really Minnesotan way of saying "goodbye".

* * *

Please comment if the above does not address your question, and I can edit to
update.




Let's dive into this etymology.

_(My reference, unless otherwise stated, is Shogakukan's_ 国語大辞典. _I've got a
dead-tree copy, and there's also a decent online version available for free
via[Kotobank](https://kotobank.jp/). Note that Kotobank's layout is a bit
confusing for terms spelled with kanji that have multiple readings.)_

### Sense development

  * さようなら  
Listed
[here](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%95%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%AA%E3%82%89-2043504)
as first appearing in texts from around 1742. Derived as a shortening of
さようならば.

  * さようならば  
Listed
[here](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%95%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%AA%E3%82%89%E3%81%B0-2043505)
as first appearing in texts from around the late 1500s, early 1600s, as a
conjunction. The meaning was as expected from its parts: [さよう]{like that, that
way} + [ならば]{if it be}. The "goodbye" sense appears later, cited to a text
from 1791.

→ We can surmise that the "goodbye" sense for either form probably showed up
in the early 1700s.

### Derivation of the parts

  * さよう  
First cited in the 伊勢【いせ】物語【ものがたり】 ([ _The Tales of
Ise_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tales_of_Ise)) of the early 900s.  
This is a compound of さ ("that", medial distal marker, cognate with modern そ)
+ よう ("way, manner, appearance").

    * さ  
First appears in the Nara period (710–794) with the form さて. The shorter さ
then appears from the Heian period (794–1185). Modern そう was formerly さう, and
this さ may be the first component of that.  
Commonly spelled 然 in references. While cognate with the そ in words like
そこ・それ・そなた etc., the そ version was used for physical and concrete things, while
さ was used for abstract and psychological things.  
Note that the character 然 is borrowed from Chinese, but the reading _sa_ is
purely Japanese. 然 in Middle Chinese was read as something like //ȵiᴇn//
instead, resulting in the modern Japanese _on'yomi_ of _zen_.

    * よう  
Commonly spelled 様 in references. This is the only component of this phrase
that derives from Chinese, specifically from earlier glyph form 樣
("appearance; form; look").  
[In]{ } Middle Chinese when this was first borrowed into Japanese, the
pronunciation was probably something like //jɨɐŋ// (the "j" here represents a
sound like "y" in English; reconstructed based on linguistic research into
sound changes and sound correspondences). The historical kana spelling in
Japanese is やう, representing how it was probably first pronounced in Japanese:
//jau//. (We see the same //au// → //oː// shift here as we saw above with さう.)

  * ならば  
The term さよう is a 形容動詞【けいようどうし】 or " _-na_ adjective". The _-na_ modifier
particle in modern Japanese comes from older attributive (noun-modifying) なる,
which comes from a contraction of even older に + ある. This なる developed some
time in the Heian period when 形容動詞【けいようどうし】 were first used.  
[The]{ } ならば in さようならば, the oldest form of this term, is this older なる for
_-na_ adjectives, conjugated into the conditional or hypothetical form.

    * In modern Japanese, the conditional / hypoethetical is created by adding a ば onto the conditional / hypothetical verb stem, which ends in _-e_ (sometimes with an extra _-r-_ in the middle). Consider 行【い】く → 行けば, or 食【た】べる → 食【た】べれば. This _-e_ stem evolved from the ancient / classical 已然形【いぜんけい】 or "realis conjugation" which expressed something that is or could be real, used in subjunctive or suppositional constructions.
    * ~~In ancient Japanese, the conditional / hypothetical could be formed using the _-e_ stem, or also by using the _-a_ stem -- also called the 未然形【みぜんけい】 or "irrealis conjugation" which expressed something that isn't real. This is the same as the modern _-a_ verb stem used for negatives.~~  
~~([There]{ } seems to have been some subtlety of meaning differentiating the
_-eba_ usage from the _-aba_ usage, but I haven't yet read a fuller
exploration of that topic.)~~

**Update:** I've learned a bit more about classical Japanese since I wrote the
strikethrough portion above.

  * In classical usage, the _-eba_ ending was a conditional, a bit like English "because". This uses the classical 已然形【いぜんけい】 or "realis conjugation", talking about something that has happened or is assumed will happen.

    * 「XXXす[れ]{●}[ば]{●}、YYY...」 means " _because_ you're doing XXX, _then_ YYY".
    * 「XXXへ行[け]{●}[ば]{●}、YYY...」 means " _because_ you're going to XXX, _then_ YYY".
  * Meanwhile, the _-aba_ ending was a hypothetical, a bit like English "if". This uses the classical 未然形【みぜんけい】 or "irrealis conjugation", talking about something that hasn't happened (maybe not yet, maybe never will).

    * 「XXX[せ]{●}[ば]{●}、YYY」 means " _if_ you do XXX, _then_ YYY".
    * 「XXXへ行[か]{●}[ば]{●}、YYY」 means " _if_ you go to XXX, _then_ YYY".

### Conclusion

The only piece with any Chinese derivation is 様【よう】. The best interpretation
of the etymology given in _A Word A Day_ is that it was somewhat scrambled,
and the "ultimately from Chinese" portion wound up in the wrong place in the
sentence.

### Addendum

Part of my family background is from Minnesota. When I was first learning
Japanese and was taught the background meaning of さようなら, I realized it
basically parses out to "well, if that's the way it's going to be" -- which
somehow seems like a really Minnesotan way of saying "goodbye".

* * *

Please comment if the above does not address your question, and I can edit to
update.

