The main theme of this paper is to make clear when and how the names of shichiyo were translated from European languages into Japanese.
The writer examined representative Dutch-Japanese dictionaries compiled in the Edo era and important English-Japanese or Japanese-English dictionaries published in the late years of Edo era and in the early years of the Meiji era.
In the oldest, extant English-Japanese dictionary ‘_??__??__??__??__??__??__??__??_’ (1811) by Shôei Motoki, we can find the names of shichiyo in the same forms as in the present use. But about 20 years before, Shôei's father Yoshinaga Motoki made an astroromical translation from Dutch, and in his book (1791-1792), we can find shichiyo such as_??__??__??_, _??__??__??_, _??__??__??_, _??__??__??_, _??__??__??_, _??__??__??_, _??__??__??_.
It may be said that Yoshinaga Motoki and his son played an important role in the translation of shichiyo.
In the process of his translation, he seemed to refer to Latin. How was he able to have a knowledge of Latin? In 1595, Christian missionaries made a Latin-Portuguese-Japanese dictionary in Amakusa. He could consult this dictionary.
After presenting a report at the regular monthly meeting in May, 1988, the writer knew that shichiyo appeared as _??__??_, _??_, _??_, _??_, _??_, _??_, _??_ in ‘Midokampakuki’ by Michinaga Fujiwara (998). Why were they in the same order as in the present use?
What is the relation between the theory of the five natural elements _??__??__??__??__??_ (i.e. wood, fire, earth, metal and water) and the naming of shichiyo?
The writer hopes this paper will help scholars make further studies.
