Ainu Morpheme Explorer
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Niikappu, Hidaka region, Hokkaidō

節婦

せっぷ Seppu

The pair Pon-Seppu and Poro-Seppu shows that sep named the ground first and the rivers after.

Ainu spellings: Sep

Analyses

poro-sep-pet

ポロセㇷ゚ペッ

received reading

the parent wide river

Proponent: 『北海道 駅名の起源』

Objections

  • Where a name comes in a pon and poro pair, sep was not first given to a river: it named some landform of the neighbourhood and passed to the rivers later. The author holds the reading open to reconsideration. — zenibako_trek zenibako_trek2025
zenibako_trek2025 「節婦（せっぷ）」
Analysis details
Confidence: low

The parts are dictionary words; the objection is that the name belongs to the ground before the river.

sep

セㇷ゚

proposed

the ground under a cliff that comes down close to the shore

Proponent: zenibako_trek（小樽銭函地名歴史研究会） (zenibako_trek (Otaru Zenibako Place-Name and History Society))

sep is a verb 'be wide', and in place names it is often used as a noun. Besides Seppu there are Maruseppu, Sekineppu (sep-munke-p), Sepomai at Motta and Oniseppu, where it is plainly a noun. Batchelor's dictionary gives the noun sense as a small dale, which the author accepts with the caution that the dictionary's wording should not be taken at face value and that the landform must be observed. What the sep places have in common is a cliff running down almost to the water, leaving just enough room below it for a path or a hut.

zenibako_trek2025 「節婦（せっぷ）」Batchelor1905 s.v. Sep, 小サキ谷, n. geo. A dale
Analysis details
Confidence: low

The verb sep is a dictionary word and Batchelor gives a noun sense; the sense the reading needs, the ground under a cliff, is the author's refinement of that gloss from the landform of the places he lists.

Sources