阿歴内 あれきない Arekinai
Shibecha, Kushiro region, Hokkaidō
Ainu spellings: Arki-nay
The name is treated in the source as a comparison for Yarikirenai in Yuni, and the two readings offered for it follow from the two readings offered for that name.
Location
43.0937, 144.6319 · Coordinates: OpenStreetMap Nominatim, 2026-09-10, on 字阿歴内原野. Open in OpenStreetMap
Referents
- river The Arekinai River, beyond Lake Tōro in Shibecha.
- settlement The Arekinai district of Shibecha.
Analyses
arke-nay
アㇽケナイ ‘the river on one side’ proposedProponent: zenibako_trek（小樽銭函地名歴史研究会） (zenibako_trek (Otaru Zenibako Place-Name and History Society))
Set out alongside i-arke-ne-nay and i-arkere-nay for Yarikirenai, as one way of reading the pair of names through arke.
Objections
- arke is a locative noun that follows its noun, so nay-arke 'the side of the river' is the natural order; reversing it calls for the possessed form arkehe. arke-nay is unnatural as it stands, and the reading cannot be carried further. — zenibako_trek zenibako_trek…
arke and nay are both dictionary words; the order of a locative noun and its head is against the reading, and the author sets it aside.
arki-nay
アㇽキナイ ‘the river where they come’ proposedProponent: zenibako_trek（小樽銭函地名歴史研究会） (zenibako_trek (Otaru Zenibako Place-Name and History Society))
arki is the plural of 'come', so the name says that several of something arrive. Paired with i-arkire-nay for Yarikirenai, which has the causative of the same verb.
Evidence
- morphological pattern
An intransitive verb before nay makes a river name with no grammatical difficulty; the word-order problem that arke raises does not arise.
arki and nay are dictionary words and the shape is grammatical. The reading rests on the comparison with Yarikirenai; no documentary record of the name is cited, and what arrives is left open.
Related names
- ヤリキレナイ川（由仁町） やりきれないがわ — The name this one is read alongside; the source treats the two as relatives and reads Yarikirenai as i-arkire-nay, the causative of the same verb. zenibako_trek…