Looking Up Whether 御 Is Read お or ご


Is there a good way to look up whether a `御` prefix is `お` or `ご` for a word?
I know there is the Chinese origin versus Japanese origin thing (mentioned
[here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2111/honorific-
prefix-%E3%80%8C%E3%81%94%E3%80%8D-vs-%E3%80%8C%E3%81%8A%E3%80%8D)). But is
there a way to look up for a certain word in particular? For example, `御忙しい`
and `御自分で`. The dictionaries etc that I've looked at never seem to have it.




I don't know of any dictionary or reference book, but since 御 is most often
written as お or ご, as appropriate, you could check the Balanced Corpus of
Contemporary Written Japanese (BCCWJ, 少納言,
<http://www.kotonoha.gr.jp/shonagon>) as the proper way of "doing Google
counting".

For 忙しい and 自分 the numbers are

> お忙しい 217 results  
>  ご忙しい 0 results  
>  お自分 8 results, all of which are in fact なお自分, i.e. unrelated to 御自分  
>  ご自分 835 results

I guess you already know, but for the record, this confirms that it should be
御{お}忙しい and 御{ご}自分.

Just to show that this also works with words which don't follow the rule "お
for native Japanese words, ご for Sino-Japanese words":

> お電話 393 results  
>  ご電話 0 results  
>  お会計 30 results  
>  ご会計 0 results

Another, quick and dirty way would be to check whether your IME already
recognizes one or the other as a unit. (My IME knows お忙しい and ご自分, but
suggests 語忙しい or 尾自分 and parses the latter ones as ご＋忙しい and お＋自分. Similarly
for 電話 and 会計.)




I don't know of any dictionary or reference book, but since 御 is most often
written as お or ご, as appropriate, you could check the Balanced Corpus of
Contemporary Written Japanese (BCCWJ, 少納言,
<http://www.kotonoha.gr.jp/shonagon>) as the proper way of "doing Google
counting".

For 忙しい and 自分 the numbers are

> お忙しい 217 results  
>  ご忙しい 0 results  
>  お自分 8 results, all of which are in fact なお自分, i.e. unrelated to 御自分  
>  ご自分 835 results

I guess you already know, but for the record, this confirms that it should be
御{お}忙しい and 御{ご}自分.

Just to show that this also works with words which don't follow the rule "お
for native Japanese words, ご for Sino-Japanese words":

> お電話 393 results  
>  ご電話 0 results  
>  お会計 30 results  
>  ご会計 0 results

Another, quick and dirty way would be to check whether your IME already
recognizes one or the other as a unit. (My IME knows お忙しい and ご自分, but
suggests 語忙しい or 尾自分 and parses the latter ones as ご＋忙しい and お＋自分. Similarly
for 電話 and 会計.)

