I was looking for the etymology of words like 魔術 (majutsu), which I think means magic, which I believe is ma (mysterious) + jutsu (tool).
If the etymology is not native Japanese, and in fact European in origin, it’s interesting because it’s a word that is constructed from existing kanji in the language – which is something that Mandarin Chinese has a tendency to do (pick existing characters to translate a word, where each character is something related to the idea), as opposed to a close transliteration like アメリカ or シャドウ, which are purely phonetic transliterations and the individual syllables don’t carry any significance。
If it is in fact the type of word that was fabricated into having meaning in Japanese, but is not native Japanese – what are these classes of words called? Words that are non-native to Japanese, but that are made from Kanji instead of Katakana?
3 comments
魔術 is constructed from
魔 (Supernatural; not necessarily mysterious) &
術 (technique, method; not tool)
魔術 has its roots dating back to Middle Chinese, rather than Japanese, a European Language, or a modern Chinese Language
魔術 would probably be considered 漢語, Sino-Japanese Vocabulary; other words you are thinking of may also fall into this category
Can’t comment on the reading of まじゅつ sounding close to “magic” specifically though if that’s what you meant.
It’s not European, it’s Chinese. 術 (jutsu/jitsu) you can find in tons of other words, like 美術、忍術、技術、etc. The phonic similarity to magic is coincidental.
The Japanese word for “Magic” is 「マジック」