けむ

Etymology 1
→

Clipping of.

Attested since at least 1275.

Noun

 * 1)    smoke

Etymology 2
→ * →

From. Attested in the ' of 712 and the ' of 759 and earlier.

Various theories exist regarding the ultimate derivation of this auxiliary verb suffix.
 * Compound of.
 * The ke conjugation for past-recollective is only hypothetically considered to be the irrealis form.  This ke is not found outside of a small handful of suffixes such as this, its derivative , and separate , and it remains largely unexplained.  That said, the initial  ↔  alternation exhibited in the better-documented conjugated forms is also largely unexplained.


 * Compound of.
 * Due to the presence of initial in the medial 🇨🇬, the phonological shifts required for this derivation ultimately make this theory seem quite unlikely: linguists generally reconstruct initial  for 🇨🇬 and hold that this did not undergo lenition until the late  (710–794) or early  (794–1185), while  →  is already attested in the  of 712.
 * Due to the presence of initial in the medial 🇨🇬, the phonological shifts required for this derivation ultimately make this theory seem quite unlikely: linguists generally reconstruct initial  for 🇨🇬 and hold that this did not undergo lenition until the late  (710–794) or early  (794–1185), while  →  is already attested in the  of 712.


 * Compound of.
 * This hypothetical reconstructed amu form for the suppositional suffix is favored by linguists such as Bjarke Frellesvig and.
 * This hypothetical reconstructed amu form for the suppositional suffix is favored by linguists such as Bjarke Frellesvig and.

Conjugation
Attaches to the.

This word is morphologically an inflectional suffix. It is classified as in traditional Japanese grammar.