The plural 等 in おいら, おら


Why do the singular first person pronouns 俺{おい}等{ら} and 俺{お}等{ら} involve the
plural affix 等?

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/d7C4W.jpg) ![enter
image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VdEu1.jpg)




First, I am not sure that /ora/ really belongs in this category. Most
dictionaries simply list it as a variant of /ore/. But /oira/ is pretty
unanimously agreed to derive from /orera/, 俺 + 等 as you say, so I will stick
to discussion of that one. (In any case, presumably whatever applies to /oira/
would also apply to /ora/ if indeed they were the same /-ra/.)

So, the key point is that 等 does not necessarily mean "[+plural]" in a literal
sense. In the case of /oira/ it was originally a way of expressing non-
specificness and therefore humbleness. Contemporary first-person singular
usages like /watakusi.domo/ and /watakusi nado/ are, I think, an example of
the same phenomenon: they don't mean "myself and others", but rather "(a
lowly) one such as myself". You can find this usage attached to other pronouns
too in historical documents; the Kojien has an example of first-person
singular /ware.ra/ for example. And of course it has also been attached to
second- or third-person pronouns to express contempt (something like the
contemporary /omae nado/).




First, I am not sure that /ora/ really belongs in this category. Most
dictionaries simply list it as a variant of /ore/. But /oira/ is pretty
unanimously agreed to derive from /orera/, 俺 + 等 as you say, so I will stick
to discussion of that one. (In any case, presumably whatever applies to /oira/
would also apply to /ora/ if indeed they were the same /-ra/.)

So, the key point is that 等 does not necessarily mean "[+plural]" in a literal
sense. In the case of /oira/ it was originally a way of expressing non-
specificness and therefore humbleness. Contemporary first-person singular
usages like /watakusi.domo/ and /watakusi nado/ are, I think, an example of
the same phenomenon: they don't mean "myself and others", but rather "(a
lowly) one such as myself". You can find this usage attached to other pronouns
too in historical documents; the Kojien has an example of first-person
singular /ware.ra/ for example. And of course it has also been attached to
second- or third-person pronouns to express contempt (something like the
contemporary /omae nado/).

