The earliest example of the verb“OSORU”occers in the texts of 8th Century, but this word can not be found in the literal works written with Hiragana letters in the Heian Period (10-11th century). Perhaps this verb was not used in the polished expression by the aristocrat society. But at the same time a lot of examples of this word can be found in the“Kunten”materials, that is, the Japanese reading marks written in the Chinese sentense by the scholars. Moreover, this verb had three sorts of conjugation, that is, Kami-nidan, Shimonidan and Yodan conjugation. The Yodan conjugation had only a short life from 11th century until 12th century. On the contrary Shimo-nidan conjugation has been used till present time in the form“OSORERU”, receiving the general change Shimo-nidan to Shimo-ichidan conjugation.
It is evident that the adverb“OSORAKU”was derived from the verb “OSORU”, but the detailed process is not yet explained. It is a simple idea that “OSORAKU”was derived from the Yodan conjugation form of“OSORU”, but, in the 11th and 12th centuries in which Yodan“OSORU”appeared in the documents, the suffix“-KU”(originary used in the 8th century) had no longer posessed the productive energy. It may be more reasonable to guess that “OSORURAKU”dropped its middle“-ur-”, and turned into“OSORAKU”, which has survived under the frequent usage of suffix“-RAKU”.
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