various Japanese apologies

[wombat1138]

All righty then. The apologies most people know about are "gomen (nasai)" and "sumimasen"; as it turns out, there are significant implications to the presence or absence of "nasai" in the former, as well as numerous other forms of apology.

The least formal apology is simply "gomen", which should really be considered as "go-men": honorific+noun, where "men" means something like pardon, amnesty, permission, or forgiveness, so literally "a gracious pardon" or suchlike.

The next one up is the informal analogue of "sumimasen": "sumanai". Both of these are negative forms of the verb "sumasu", repay/relieve, whose root kanji is built from elements which seem to represent water and uniformity (the latter may be further compounded from something to do with writing or the arts, or that may just be a visual coincidence). Ignoring the parenthetical bit, perhaps the original meaning referred to refilling a container of liquid to its original level after some of it was poured out. So the negative forms would mean something like "I can't repay my debt to you", which is probably why they can also be used in some contexts as an expression of thanks. (No idea about the etymology of "arigatou" at the moment. That'll have to be another sidetrack.)

Next, there's "gomen nasai". Paradoxically enough, the second half is the plain imperative of an honorific verb, "nasaru"; since its ordinary analogue "suru" (do), its English equivalent might be something like perform/accomplish--> "Kindly accomplish a gracious pardon (for me)"? The phrasing is awkward, but that's because of the next version.

"Gomen kudasai" is slightly more formal than "gomen nasai"; "kudasaru" is another honorific verb, this time one of the umpteen different verbs in the give/receive cluster. "Bestow" is probably a good rendering, producing the slightly more natural English sentence "Bestow a gracious pardon (upon my unworthy self)".

Neither of the first two forms seems to be acceptable for apologizing a social superior; the third one may be okay, but seems relatively rare. Despite the honorific verbs, there may be some people you can't address with the imperative, no matter what. (It's kind of like the moment I realized why Latin prayers always use the hortatory subjunctive instead of the imperative-- it's not "Lord, bless us RIGHT NOW, DAMMIT" but rather "Lord, if it seems like a good idea to you, we would really appreciate it if you could bless us sometime....") The formal "sumimasen" (see"sumanai", above) is a safe choice after you've spilled coffee on your boss, though.

And then there are two ultra-formal/grovelling versions I'm not aware of having encountered in actual use, both of them based on "moushiwake"+[formal copula]. The first part further bifurcates into a derivative of the verb "mousu", a self-abasing analogue of "iu" (speak), and the noun "yaku" (translation). The "iu"-based analogue "iiwake" already has the meaning of a spoken explanation/apology, so "moushiwake" just ratchets things up even more to something like "my unworthy/inadequate explanation".

(Other compounds of the same "mousu" are used to refer to college/job applications and marriage/grant proposals, but I don't think there's any relation to the telephone greeting "moushi moushi", which originated as a shibboleth against kitsune in human disguise-- evidently if you're a fox-thpiwit, you have a lithp?[1])

So there's the version with the polite negative of the already rather polite copula "arimasu" (from "aru", as opposed to the colloquially conversational "da/desu"), "moushiwake arimasen", and then there's the version with the polite negative of the practically archaically polite copula ("gozaru", familiar to RK fans), "moushiwake gozaimasen". (Now that I think about it, iirc "gozaru" might've evolved from an earlier form that appended the honorific prefix "go-" with "aru", but I'm not sure which one of my books that was in. Or I might just be imagining it.) Both of them might literally translate to something like "(My actions were so heinous that even the most necessarily) inadequate explanation (which I might offer) does not exist" (or "...can possibly suffice").

I was hoping to round all of these up with a simple chart of English equivalents, perhaps ranging from "Sorry, my bad" to "I abase myself in hope of the gracious forgiveness you might offer me, although I do not truly deserve it", but now my brain has melted for the day :b

Later notes:

"Gomen" would presumably equate to the most common rushed/clipped apologies such as "excuse me" and "(I'm) sorry", as well as even more informal phrases such as the aforementioned "my bad".

At least in American English, "pardon me" sounds slightly more formal, and thus appropriate for "sumanai"; another possibility might be "my apologies".

"Gomen nasai/kudasai" would expand on the first set of phrases: "Please excuse me", "I'm so sorry", and so on. ("My mistake"?)

Similarly, "sumimasen" would be something like "I beg your pardon" or "please accept my apologies".

I'm still not sure what to do with "moushiwake arimasen/gozaimasen", but something like "I beg your forgiveness" or "please forgive me" seems promising, since at least in my limited social sphere, I seldom hear forgiveness invoked in a secular/casual context.

Not that I'm actually likely to stick to this chart of equivalents, but it's fun to play with....

[1]: much later correction; evidently I was wrong on both counts. It *is* the same verb, which disguised kitsune can pronounce correctly after all, at least for a single-barrelled round. I don't know what happens when they attempt to say "moushi" the second time, though.