ば

Etymology 2
From 🇨🇬. Appears in the , completed 759.

Originally an extension of the topic particle, for which the 🇨🇬 pronunciation is reconstructed as *.

Particle

 * 1)  if
 * 2)  if; when
 * , Taketori Monogatari
 * 1)  the more …, the more
 * 2)  … and …
 * 3)   it doesn't matter if …; may as well
 * 4)   because; as
 * 5) * 1901, 慶應義塾, 修身要領
 * 1)  the more …, the more
 * 2)  … and …
 * 3)   it doesn't matter if …; may as well
 * 4)   because; as
 * 5) * 1901, 慶應義塾, 修身要領
 * 1)   it doesn't matter if …; may as well
 * 2)   because; as
 * 3) * 1901, 慶應義塾, 修身要領
 * 1) * 1901, 慶應義塾, 修身要領
 * 1) * 1901, 慶應義塾, 修身要領

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

Etymology 5
Contraction of, itself composed of the object particle + contrastive and emphatic particle , which voices to  due to.

First cited to a text from the early 1800s.

Usage notes
May be encountered more commonly where the portion before the particle ends in an sound or the nasal, phonological contexts where the  sound of the particle  would be expected to contract.