白鵜 しらう Shirau
Biratori, Hidaka region, Hokkaidō
Ainu spellings: Sir-aw, Siraw
The Shirau of Biratori and the Shiraoi of Iburi carry the same first element and the article reads both the same way.
Referents
- settlement The district now called Kawamukai in Biratori, where the Shirau River runs
Analyses
siraw
シラウ ‘horsefly’ received reading- siraw ‘horsefly’
Proponent: 定説
Objections
- The author reads the name as a ridge name, as at Shiraoi. — zenibako_trek zenibako_trek…
siraw 'horsefly' is a dictionary word; whether an insect name heads the place name is the point at issue, as at Shiraoi.
sir-aw
シラウ ‘branch of the ridge’ proposed- sir ‘mountain, ridge’
- aw ‘branch’
Proponent: zenibako_trek（小樽銭函地名歴史研究会） (zenibako_trek (Otaru Zenibako Place-Name and History Society))
The same reading the author gives to Shiraoi, where sir-aw-o-i names ground with many ridge spurs. A hill called the Shirau hill stands there.
sir is a dictionary word for land or mountain, while the sense 'branch' for aw is the author's, and the Saru dialect dictionary lists aw as a root for a horn, for the inside of a house, for squid and for the neighbouring house.