Hokkaidō
網走
あばしり AbashiriBatchelor gives two readings of the same analytical form.
Ainu spellings: Apa-shiri kotan
Analyses
Apa-shiri kotan
Fish-spear-head land
- Apa fish-spear head + be (Batchelor’s ap + a)
- shiri land
- kotan village, place
Proponent: John Batchelor
Batchelor divides apa into ap “head of a fish spear” and a, a singular verb of existence.
Apa-shiri kotan
Door-land
Proponent: John Batchelor
His alternative takes apa as an entrance, including a river mouth seen from the sea. He tentatively suggests an entrance from Sakhalin.
Attestations
- Abashiri dictionary 1905 An Ainu-English-Japanese Dictionary, 2nd edition
“Fish-spear-head land.” … “Door-land.”
The entry gives Batchelor’s analytical spelling and interpretation.
Batchelor1905 § V "Place Names Considered", p. 33, s.v. Abashiri
Sources
- An Ainu-English-Japanese Dictionary (including A Grammar of the Ainu Language)
Batchelor, John·1905