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I noticed the rare reading of メン contained in the word 雌鳥{めんどり} and I wondered how this unusual reading could have come about. I am not aware of any other words which use this reading for 雌. Is it simply that めんどり is easier to say than めすとり or めすどり ? If that is the case, shouldn't 雌トラ be めんどら? Or is there a different reason such as the reading being a relic from an archaic pronunciation?

kandyman
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  • This dictionary has an entry for めん, so perhaps it is used for other words: https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/218072/meaning/m1u/めん/ .I don't know of any though. Also there is the parallel おん which means 雄(おす). I agree it's probably because it's easier to say (there are some other words like 甘えん坊 which I am guessing came from 甘える坊, though not certain of it) – Locksleyu Dec 07 '18 at 17:00

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According to デジタル大辞泉...

めん‐どり【▽雌鳥】
《「めどり」の音変化》...

おん‐どり〔をん‐〕【▽雄鳥】
《「おとり」の音変化》...

And 大辞林 says...

めんどり【雌鳥】
〔「めどり」の撥音添加〕

おんどり【雄鳥】
〔「おとり」の転〕

So it seems...

めどり → （撥音添加） → めんどり　　
おとり → （撥音添加 + 連濁） → おんどり

Some examples of 撥音添加 include...

みな（皆） → みんな
なにも（何も） → なんにも
おなじ（同じ） → おんなじ
こぶ（昆布） → こんぶ
とび（鳶） → とんび

(But you don't call female tiger as めんどら...)　

UPDATE:

As pointed out by @Eiríkr in the comments below, it might be more reasonable to think of it as...

め(す)のとり → contraction(の→ん)+連濁(と→ど) → めんどり

... Now I'm not totally sure... Let's wait for others to post better answers! ^^

chocolate
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  • Although the dictionaries do not mention it, I have to wonder if this wasn't so much of an unexplained 変化【へんか】, but instead a simple contraction of の to ん, with associated 連濁【れんだく】 for the following word. – Eiríkr Útlendi Dec 07 '18 at 17:47
  • あ～・・　「め(す) + の + とり」→「め + ん + どり」ってことね・・・ – chocolate Dec 07 '18 at 17:51
  • その通りです。「みな」→「みんな」や「とび」→「とんび」等の場合では、撥音が単に伸びることですが、「おとり」→「おんどり」では、撥音はそもそもないですから、「撥音がどうやって生じるか」は不思議に思われます。 – Eiríkr Útlendi Dec 07 '18 at 17:56
  • I can see how みな would become みんな but I don't understand why とび becomes とんび. There's no contraction and there's not very much overlap phonetically between と and び. Is it a known case of a particular phenomenon? Or was it originally とんび and the ん became elided? – kandyman Dec 07 '18 at 18:20
  • @kandyman: The び is already nasalized as a voiced obstruent. The addition of ん before voiced obstruents is a common shift in various flavors of Japanese, such as たび→たんび in Tōhoku speech. – Eiríkr Útlendi Dec 07 '18 at 18:28
  • @EiríkrÚtlendi I see, interesting stuff. – kandyman Dec 07 '18 at 18:29