厚苫 あつとま Atsutoma
Bikuni, Shakotan, Shiribeshi region, Hokkaidō
Ainu spellings: Atomai, Attomari
The name belongs to the inlet on the west of the cape, and both readings turn on what at names.
Referents
- settlement The inlet on the west side of Cape Atsutoma, which faces Furubira Maruyama and now carries the boundary between Shakotan and Furubira; the Atsutoma tunnel runs through the cape. The older maps put the name on the inlet, and the modern address does the same.
Analyses
at-tomari
アットマリ ‘anchorage where the herring run’ received reading- at ‘run in shoals, be abundant’
- tomari ‘anchorage’
Proponent: 定説
Glossing at as 'abundant' or 'run in shoals' comes from Nagata, and the same gloss appears at Katsunai in Otaru, at-nay 'river where the herring run', and at Okobachi, oro-at 'they run in shoals there'. The neighbouring town of Furubira has a Kuki-chō 'herring-run town', which makes the reading look apt at first sight.
Objections
- The gloss is hard to accept grammatically. Kuki-chō in Furubira translates heroki-kar-us-i 'place where herring are taken', and the herring names of the Japan Sea coast, such as Heruka-ishi in Kamoenai, are all built on that pattern. — zenibako_trek zenibako_trek…
tomari is a dictionary word, and Tamura carries an intransitive at 'be there in numbers, swarm' apart from at 'be hooked'. The majority of the older spellings end in マイ.
at-oma-i
アトマイ ‘place where the ohyō elm is’ proposed- at ‘ohyō elm’
- oma ‘be at’
- i ‘place’
Proponent: zenibako_trek（小樽銭函地名歴史研究会） (zenibako_trek (Otaru Zenibako Place-Name and History Society))
The article marks this reading as the one it supports. Attsuhoroshi on Cape Maruyama, at-horo-us-i 'place where the elm bark is soaked', puts a second elm name on the same stretch of coast.
The oma-i shape is ordinary and fits the majority spelling アトマイ. Tamura has at as a noun for the bark of the ohyō elm, the material of the attus robe.
Attestations
- アトマイ document Edo period 旧図類
アトマイ makes up the majority of the older spellings; アツトマヱ and アトマリ also occur.
zenibako_trek… - アツホロシ map Edo period 伊能大図
The name of the Hoya rock area on Cape Maruyama, read at-horo-us-i 'place where the elm bark is soaked'. Ohyō elm bark is the material of the attus robe, and the bark is soaked about a week to loosen the fibre.
zenibako_trek…
Related names
- イカウシ／ホンイカウシ いかうし — The name of Cape Atsutoma itself, read pon-ika-us-i 'the small place one crosses over', with Cape Maruyama as poro-ika-us-i 'the large place one crosses over'. zenibako_trek…
- 群来町（古平） くきちょう — A translation of heroki-kar-us-i 'place where herring are taken'. zenibako_trek…