おる

Japanese

Etymology 1

Alternative spelling
居る

/woru/ → /oru/

From Old Japanese. First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE^[1] in the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) with the phonetic man'yōgana spelling of 袁理 (⟨wori⟩). Also attested in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.^[2]

Listed in some sources^[3]^[4] as derived from the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) wi of verb wiru (modern いる (iru)) + ある (aru). The conjugation paradigm for woru is indeed the same as aru for Classical and Old Japanese. However, the resulting compounded *wiaru form would ordinarily become yaru or (w)eru via historical phonetic change, and the vowel shift to /o/ is unexplainable in this hypothesis.

Alternatively, from *wu + ari or *wo + ari, where *wu or *wo is the root of the verb wiru (modern いる (iru), and ari is the Old Japanese form of modern ある (aru).^[5]

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) おる [óꜜrù] (Atamadaka – [1])^[4]^[7]
(Mishima) おる [óꜜrù] (Atamadaka – [1])^[6]
IPA^(key): [o̞ɾɯ̟]

Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 「居る」

Stem forms
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Terminal (終止形) Attributive (連体形)	居る	おる	`[óꜜrù]`
Imperative (命令形)	居れ	おれ	`[óꜜrè]`
Key constructions
Passive	居られる	おられる	`[òráréꜜrù]`
Causative	居らせる	おらせる	`[òráséꜜrù]`
Potential	居れる	おれる	`[òréꜜrù]`
Volitional	居ろう	おろー	`[òróꜜò]`
Negative	居らない	おらない	`[òráꜜnàì]`
Negative perfective	居らなかった	おらなかった	`[òráꜜnàkàttà]`
Formal	居ります	おります	`[òrímáꜜsù]`
Perfective	居った	おった	`[óꜜttà]`
Conjunctive	居って	おって	`[óꜜttè]`
Hypothetical conditional	居れば	おれば	`[óꜜrèbà]`

Verb

おる • (oru) ^{←をる (woru)^?}intransitive godan (stem おり (ori), past おった (otta))

(of animate objects) to exist, to be, to have
むかしあるところに一人(ひとり)の欲(よく)ばりの坊(ぼう)さんがおりました。[3]
Mukashi aru tokoro ni hitori no yokubari no bōsan ga orimashita.
Once upon a time, there was a greedy priest somewhere.
(after a transitive verb in the て conjunctive form) to be (doing): indicates a progressive or continuous sense; the verb ending -ておる (-te oru) is often contracted to とる (-toru)
ぼくは眼(め)をほそめて海(うみ)を見(み)ておった[4]
Boku wa me o hosomete umi o miteotta
I was staring at the sea with a squinted eye
(Chūgoku, Shikoku, Kyūshū, after a verb in the conjunctive form) to be (doing); a continuous sense; often transformed to よる (yoru)
毎(まい)朝(あさ)、私(わたし)、観(かん)音(のん)様(さま)にお願(がん)を掛(か)けよるんじゃものきっと通(とお)るわ。[5]
Maiasa, watashi, Kannon-sama ni o-gan o kakeyoru n ja mono kitto tōru wa.
Since I am making a wish to Kannon every morning, he will certainly pass his exams.

Usage notes

A variation of いる (iru) used mainly in western Japan.
In standard Japanese, it is usually used in 謙(けん)譲(じょう)語(ご) (kenjōgo, “humble language”) or 丁(てい)寧(ねい)語(ご) (teineigo, “polite language”) as おります form or in certain archaic/literary expressions.

Conjugation

Conjugation of "おる" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	おら	ora
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	おり	ori
Shūshikei ("terminal")	おる	oru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	おる	oru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	おれ	ore
Meireikei ("imperative")	おれ	ore
Key constructions
Passive	おられる	orareru
Causative	おらせるおらす	oraseru orasu
Potential	おれる	oreru
Volitional	おろう	orō
Negative	おらない	oranai
Negative continuative	おらず	orazu
Formal	おります	orimasu
Perfective	おった	otta
Conjunctive	おって	otte
Hypothetical conditional	おれば	oreba

Classical conjugation of "をり" (ラ行変格活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms
Irrealis (未然形)	をら	wora
Continuative (連用形)	をり	wori
Terminal (終止形)	をり	wori
Attributive (連体形)	をる	woru
Realis (已然形)	をれ	wore
Imperative (命令形)	をれ	wore
Key constructions
Negative	をらず	worazu
Contrasting conjunction	をれど	woredo
Causal conjunction	をれば	woreba
Conditional conjunction	をらば	woraba
Past tense (firsthand knowledge)	をりき	woriki
Past tense (secondhand knowledge)	をりけり	worikeri
Perfect tense (conscious action)	をりつ	woritu
Perfect tense (natural event)	をりぬ	worinu
Perfect-continuative tense	をりたり^[1]	woritari
Volitional	をらむ	woramu
^[1]Often proscribed due to a redundancy of having 2 あり.

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of おる – see the following entries.

【折る】	[verb] to bend, to fold

【織る】	[verb] to weave

(This term, おる (oru), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.)
For a list of all kanji read as おる, see Category:Japanese kanji read as おる.)

(The following entries are uncreated: 下る, 愚る.)

References

^ “居”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
^
c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 5, poem 886:
, text here
^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ Frellesvig, Bjarke (2010) A History of the Japanese Language, Cambridge University Press, New York, →ISBN, page 351
^ Uwano, Zendo (2002 October 31) “見島方言の用言のアクセント調査報告 [A Report on the Accentual Surveys of Verbs and Adjectives in the Mishima Dialect]”, in 環太平洋の「消滅に瀕した言語」にかんする緊急調査研究 [Endangered languages of the Pacific Rim]‎^[2], →ISSN, archived from the original on 25 September 2022
^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

[KDJ2-1] “居”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006

[2] 
c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 5, poem 886:
, text here

[KDJ-3] Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[Frellesvig2010p.351-5] Frellesvig, Bjarke (2010) A History of the Japanese Language, Cambridge University Press, New York, →ISBN, page 351

[6] Uwano, Zendo (2002 October 31) “見島方言の用言のアクセント調査報告 [A Report on the Accentual Surveys of Verbs and Adjectives in the Mishima Dialect]”, in 環太平洋の「消滅に瀕した言語」にかんする緊急調査研究 [Endangered languages of the Pacific Rim]‎^[2], →ISSN, archived from the original on 25 September 2022

[NHK-7] NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

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