# けむ
## Japanese
### Etymology 1

* Alternative spellings
* 煙 烟 (uncommon)
/kemuri/ → /kemu/
Clipping of 煙 (kemuri, “smoke”).
Attested since at least 1275.

#### Pronunciation

* (Tokyo) けむ [kèmú] (Heiban – [0])
* IPA: [ke̞mɯ̟]

#### Noun

けむ • (kemu)
* [from 1275] 煙, 烟: (informal, colloquial) smoke

### Etymology 2

⟨ke$_1$mu⟩ → */kʲemu/ → /kemu/
From Old Japanese けむ. Attested in the Kojiki of 712 and the Man'yōshū of 759 and earlier.
Various theories exist regarding the ultimate derivation of this auxiliary verb suffix.
* Compound of け (ke, a hypothetical 未然形 (mizenkei, “irrealis or imperfective form”) of past-recollective auxiliary き (ki), usually found instead as せ (se)) +‎ む (mu, suppositional auxiliary suffix).
    The ke conjugation for past-recollective き (ki) is only hypothetically considered to be the irrealis form. This ke is not found outside of a small handful of suffixes such as this けむ (kemu), its derivative けまく (kemaku), and separate けく (keku), and it remains largely unexplained. That said, the initial /s-/ ↔ /k-/ alternation exhibited in the better-documented conjugated forms is also largely unexplained.
* Compound of 来 (ki, “coming”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 来る (kuru, “to come”)) +‎ 経 (he, “passing through, as of a process or time or place”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 経る (heru, “to pass through”)) +‎ む (mu, suppositional auxiliary suffix).
       */ki pe mu/ → */kifemu/? → */kiemu/ → /kemu/
    Due to the presence of initial /p-/ in the medial Old Japanese 経 (pe, continuative stem, terminal form was pu), the phonological shifts required for this derivation ultimately make this theory seem quite unlikely: linguists generally reconstruct initial /p-/ for Old Japanese and hold that this did not undergo lenition until the late Nara period (710–794) or early Heian period (794–1185), while ⟨ke$_1$mu⟩ → /kʲemu/ is already attested in the Kojiki of 712.
* Compound of き (ki, past-recollective auxiliary suffix) +‎ あむ (amu, hypothetical earlier form of suppositional auxiliary suffix む (mu)).
       */ki amu/ → */kiamu/ → /kʲemu/ → /kemu/
    This hypothetical reconstructed amu form for the suppositional suffix is favored by linguists such as Bjarke Frellesvig and Alexander Vovin.

#### Alternative forms

* けん (-ken)

#### Suffix

けむ • (-kemu)
* [from 712] (Classical Japanese) used to make the past conjectural form of verbs
** presents a supposition about a past event
** presents a supposition about the cause of a past event
** presents hearsay about a past event

##### Conjugation

Stem forms :
| Irrealis (未然形) | けま$^{[1]}$ | けま$^{[1]}$ | kema |
| Continuative (連用形) | | | - |
| Terminal (終止形) | けむ けん | けむ けん | kemu ken |
| Attributive (連体形) | けむ けん | けむ けん | kemu ken |
| Realis (已然形) | けめ | けめ | keme |
| Imperative (命令形) | | | - |
| $^$The irrealis form of けま (kema) is only found in Old Japanese as part of the suffix けまく (kemaku). ||||
Attaches to the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”).
This word is morphologically an inflectional suffix. It is classified as 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.

##### Synonyms

* 〜たろう (~tarō)
* 〜ただろう (~ta darō), だっただろう (datta darō)

### References

* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
* 1 2 3 4 5 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
* ↑ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
* ↑ 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
* 1 2 3 4 Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN