著者

東 晧傳

出版者

広島修道大学

雑誌

広島修大論集. 人文編 (ISSN:03875873)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.39, no.1, pp.301-330, 1998-09-30

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There is a bridge name called 'Muma' in Toyohira Town, Hiroshima, which motivated me to look into the spread of the metropolitan culture to local areas. It is interesting to note that names of both 'Muma' and 'Uma' coexist in the same regions. Therefore, it is my assumption that in the medieval period horses in eastern Japan were introduced with great force to western Japan which was growing as a cow-centered livestock area along with the development of its regional economy, and that 'Muma' was affectd by 'u' of ushi (means cow in Japanese), thus assimilating to 'Uma'. On the other hand, this seems quite natural, because the spoken language of 'u' etc. was more prevalent than the written language of 'mu' etc. in the premodern society. However, more extensive research is necessary to further analyze 'Muma' and 'Uma' in the regions concerned.