Baka (word)

Baka (馬鹿, ばか, or バカ) means "fool; idiot", or (as an adjectival noun) "foolish" and is the most frequently used pejorative term in the Japanese language. This word baka has a long history, an uncertain etymology (possibly from Sanskrit or Classical Chinese), and linguistic complexities.

Word

The modern Japanese writing system transcribes the insult baka as バカ in katakana, ばか in hiragana, or 馬鹿 (lit. "horse deer") in ateji phonetic kanji transcription; earlier ateji renderings included 莫迦, 母嫁, 馬嫁, or 破家.

History

The first written usages of baka were during the Nanboku-chō period (1336–1392), when the "Northern and Southern Courts" battled.

In the earliest example, the Taiheiki historical epic records bakamono 馬鹿者 being used as an insult in 1342. The Ashikaga commander Toki Yoritō 土岐頼遠 refuses to pay obeisance to retired Emperor Kōgon (r. 1313-1364), "Yoritō, probably inebriated, loudly demands to know what kind of fool (bakamono) has the temerity to order him to dismount." According to Carr, "Shinmura found that the original editions (fourteenth century) of the Taiheiki had baka written バカ; [while] later movable-type editions (c. 1600) had the characters 馬鹿."