あーまん : aaman | define meaning

Cognate with Tokunoshima あまん aman "hermit crab; spider"; Kunigami (Benoki) あまむ amamu; Okinawan あーまん aaman; Miyako あまん aman; Yonaguni あまんぶ amanbu "hermit crab".

Reconstructions:

• Yosuke Igarashi (2018) reconstructs *amamu (accent class C).
• Takeru Akazawa and Emőke Szathmáry (1996) propose a relation with Proto-Austronesian *(k)umang 'hermit crab'.

Historical Ryukyuan attestations:

• Vocabulary of the language spoken at the Great Loo-Choo island in the Japan Sea (1818), by Herbert John Clifford, records "Ámang, shell fish (like a crab)".
• Japanese-English Dictionary by the Late Prof. Dr. J. J. Hoffmann (1881), by Johann Joseph Hoffmann and edited by Lindor Serrurier, records "Aman, アマン, 寄居蟲, N. In Liu-kiu a name of the Hermit crab (Pagūrus), Euc. 47. 21. SYN. Gauna. Kamina."
• 沖縄語典 Okinawa goten (Okinawan language dictionary) (1896), by Masayo Nakamoto, records "「あーまん」寄居蟲（ヤドカリ）".

Discussion:

• Compare Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kumaŋ 'hermit crab' (e.g. Itbayaten omaŋ, Ilokano úmaŋ 'hermit crab') and Proto-Austronesian *qumaŋ 'hermit crab' (e.g. Kavalan umaŋ 'hairy hermit crab').
• Gregory Smits (2024) comments on the similarities between Ryukyuan and Austronesian mythologies on hermit crabs.