The development of language (5)

The expression なにげにhas a sort of interesting yet unknown development. Used in context: 「なにげに空を見上げたら」 and「なにげに暑い」become 「なにげなく空を見上げた」and 「なんとなく暑い」respectively. According to the dictionary なにげない without thinking, or without particular awareness in English the word maybe “casual” or “unconcerned”. 「なんとなく」however, means “somehow” or “for some reason or other”. In most dictionaries the word 「なにげに」does not exist except for the 2000 second edition of the “Nihon kokugo dai jiten”, which gives the meaning to be the same as 「なにげない」and is used by the younger generations.

So where does this word originate from? One possibility is that it came about from 「うれしげに」「かわいげに」the use of 「げに」on the end of adjectives. Of course 「なにげない」is not an adjective but this is one idea. The other possibility is that it came from a dialect of Saitama and Gumma prefectures and slowly made their way into Tokyo. In this example there are words in the Saitama and Gumma dialects like 「うまげ」「さみしげ」the meaning of the final 「げ」means「～そうだ」or “it seems”. Other possibilities of the origins are also known but nothing is set in stone.

Recently the use of 「なにげに」by the youth has a slightly different meaning than the word 「なにげない」. For example, after seeing a friend’s new outfit one may say: 「なにげに素敵だね」as a way of praising their friend’s new outfit. If we substitute 「なんとなく」or 「なにげなけ」for 「なにげに」the meaning may become something like, “it’s not worth mentioning but it’s alright” but this is not the intended meaning. The meaning 「なにげに素敵」(nanigeni suteki), is 「結構素敵」(kekkou suteki) or “quite lovely” and becomes a more of a word of praise and maybe used to soften the tone of a claim rather than coming out straight with just “kawaii” or “suteki”.

Tags: Japanese development, new language