梅雨明け End of rainy season
「梅雨明け」という言葉をご存知ですか？
「梅雨」は日本の雨のシーズンのこと。だいたい６月から７月にかけて毎年あります。梅雨の始まりのことを「梅雨入り」と言い、梅雨が終わることを「梅雨明け」と言います。
この「梅雨」という言葉。「つゆ」というのは当て字です。漢字の元来の読み方は「ばいう」。例えば「梅雨前線（ばいうぜんせん）」など、「ばいう」という読み方をする時もありますが、中国語由来の音読み（この場合は「ばいう」）は、熟語や公式の場で使われることが多く、日常会話では和語である「つゆ」ということが多いです。
「つゆ」の語源はよくわかっていませんが、もともと日本ではこの雨の時期を「つゆ」と呼んでいて（もしかしたら「露」と関係あるかもしれません）、後から「梅雨」という中国からの言葉と漢字を当てたようです。
梅の実がなる頃の雨なので「梅雨」。趣があって好きな言葉です。
今年は西日本は梅雨明けしていますが、東日本はまだです。もうかなり暑くなってきているので、きっともうすぐ東京も梅雨明けするのではないでしょうか。
Do you know the word tsuyu ake?
Tsuyu is Japan's rainy season — it comes every year, roughly from June through July. The beginning of the rainy season is called tsuyu iri, and when it finally ends, that's tsuyu ake.
Now, the word tsuyu itself is interesting. The reading tsuyu is actually borrowed phonetics — the original Chinese-derived reading of the characters 梅雨 is baiu. You'll still hear baiu in certain contexts, like baiu zensen (the rainy season front), and in general, Chinese-derived readings tend to appear in compound words and formal settings. In everyday conversation, though, the native Japanese reading tsuyu is what you'll hear.
The true origin of tsuyu isn't entirely clear. It seems that in Japan, this rainy period was already being called tsuyu long before the Chinese characters arrived — and the word may have some connection to tsuyu meaning dew (露). The characters 梅雨 were added later, borrowed from China along with their reading.
The characters themselves mean "plum rain" — the rain that falls when the plum trees bear fruit. I've always loved that image.
This year, the rainy season has already ended in western Japan, but here in the east, we're still waiting. It's gotten quite warm, so I imagine Tokyo's tsuyu ake won't be long now.
Iroha
