山碓 やまうす Yamausu
Yoichi, Shiribeshi region, Hokkaidō
Ainu spellings: Yamusi, Yamusir
The article calls the name harder to read than it looks.
Referents
- settlement The district answering to the present Minato-machi, from the mouth of the Nutchi to the point of Cape Shiripa. Once the village of Yamausu, also written 山臼, and the centre of Yoichi.
Analyses
yam-us-i
ヤムシ ‘place where chestnuts grow thick’ proposed- yam ‘chestnut’
- us ‘grow in numbers’
- 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))
Yoichi is spoken of as the northern limit of wild chestnut, and chestnuts are still grown in places there. On the variant reading with sir the referent is Shiripa-yama seen as a chestnut mountain.
Variants
- yam-us-sir ‘mountain where chestnuts grow thick’ — The reading for the spelling ヤマウシリ.
Objections
- There is a Yamaushi at Kitami-Esashi as well, where chestnut appears not to grow. — zenibako_trek zenibako_trek…
Confidence: low
yam 'chestnut' is a Tamura headword in the sense used, the us-i shape is common in place names, and it matches the Edo spellings. The author raises the Kitami-Esashi parallel against the reading.
zenibako_trek… 山碓（ヤマウス）田村1996 s.v. yam 栗(の実)
Attestations
- ヤマシ／ヤマウシ／ヤマウシリ map Edo period 江戸時代の絵図zenibako_trek…
Sources
zenibako_trek… 田村1996