Why does ゆっくり take the honorific prefix ご?


Is ゆっくり the only mimetic expression that accepts the honorific prefix ご?

And for that matter, why does it take the honorific prefix ご- which is usually
meant for 漢語?




There are a number of exceptions regarding the usage of お/ご, and, ultimately,
you have to learn them individually.

According to a survey by Tanaka (1972) based on the word usage of newspapers,
お attaches to a kango roughly 20% of the time, but ご very rarely attaches to a
wago (they identified only ごもっとも and ごゆっくり). Even a [long academic
article](https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/148765785.pdf) dedicated for this
topic lists only ごもっとも, ごゆっくり and ごゆるり. ゆるり is mimetic, so ごゆっくり is **not**
the only mimetic expression that accepts ご. Still, you can say the number of
such words is very small.

Kango that take お tend to be common and daily words such as お風呂, お料理, お財布, お写真
and お掃除. A few words accept both お and ご, and in such cases ご sounds stiffer
(e.g. お誕生 vs ご誕生, お返事 vs ご返事). FWIW, I feel ごゆっくり, ごもっとも and ごゆるり also have
formal, polite or even a little pompous overtones.




There are a number of exceptions regarding the usage of お/ご, and, ultimately,
you have to learn them individually.

According to a survey by Tanaka (1972) based on the word usage of newspapers,
お attaches to a kango roughly 20% of the time, but ご very rarely attaches to a
wago (they identified only ごもっとも and ごゆっくり). Even a [long academic
article](https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/148765785.pdf) dedicated for this
topic lists only ごもっとも, ごゆっくり and ごゆるり. ゆるり is mimetic, so ごゆっくり is **not**
the only mimetic expression that accepts ご. Still, you can say the number of
such words is very small.

Kango that take お tend to be common and daily words such as お風呂, お料理, お財布, お写真
and お掃除. A few words accept both お and ご, and in such cases ご sounds stiffer
(e.g. お誕生 vs ご誕生, お返事 vs ご返事). FWIW, I feel ごゆっくり, ごもっとも and ごゆるり also have
formal, polite or even a little pompous overtones.

