温禰古丹島おんねこたんとう Onekotan

Northern Kuril Islands

Ainu spellings: Onekotan, Onne kotan, Nusa moshiri

In chief ヤコーフ's division of the chain (p. 36) Onekotan belongs with Kharimkotan and Shiashkotan to the group he called Shinrudàt.

Location

49.4458, 154.7501 · Coordinates: OpenStreetMap Nominatim, 2026-09-11, on 温禰古丹島. Open in OpenStreetMap

Referents

island The large island south of Paramushir; Russian Онекотан

Analyses

Onne kotan

オンネコタン ‘the island grown old’ received reading

onne ‘old, grown’
kotan ‘place, village’

Proponent: 鳥居龍藏 (Torii Ryūzō)

Torii's reading. His word list gives Poro for 'big' and says Onne is a Hokkaidō Ainu word no longer used by the Kuril Ainu, who had used it formerly.

Confidence: high

Both parts are ordinary words and the Japanese and Russian forms preserve them without change; Torii's own note that onne had gone out of Kuril use fits an old name.

鳥居1903 p. 43鳥居1903 第六章千島地名普通單語集 (pp. 156–172), Kotan鳥居1903 第六章千島地名普通單語集 (pp. 156–172), Poro

Nusa moshiri

ヌサモシリ ‘the island where inau were set up’ proposed

nusa ‘altar of inau’
mosir ‘land, island’

Proponent: 鳥居龍藏 (Torii Ryūzō)

The old name as Torii's informants gave it.

Confidence: medium

nusa 'altar' is a common word (Tamura 1996); no other source in this database records the name.

鳥居1903 p. 43田村1996 nusa ヌサ【名】祭壇(家の外の東側にある)鳥居1903 第六章千島地名普通單語集 (pp. 156–172), Moshiri

Attestations

Onekotan oral record 1903 鳥居龍藏『千島アイヌ』第二章「千島地名解」

Onne kotan にして即ち「歲古りたる島」と云ふ意、古は Nusa moshiri 即ち「木幣を樹てたる島」と云へり

Torii reads the name as Onne kotan 'the island grown old' and gives the older name Nusa moshiri 'the island where inau were set up'.

鳥居1903 p. 43

Sources

鳥居1903 田村1996