Vocabulary question

[Alexandre]

When you talk about some origami models, do you say "these origamis" or something like this ?
My non-origami-hobbyist friends always say things like "your origamis" to describe folded models. Is is right ?

[Daydreamer]

In my opinion this is wrong for several reasons:

1) Origami describes the art form or the act of folding, but not the models themselves. Actually Origami can also be used to describe Origami paper (folding paper) although this usage is not common in English.
2) Origami is a Japanese word, therefore the form Origami(e)s as plural does not exist.

I would say that "Origami models" would be the correct way to call Origami models

[Alexandre]

Thank you

[TheRealChris]

I wouldn't say it's really wrong to say "origamis" because it's common speech. of course it's surely not listed at Webster's, but you also wouldn't find "origamist", and most of us wouldn't have problems with calling ourself an "origamist".

I've never heard anybody saying Origami to his folding paper.

"origami" ist not a real japanese word, it's only based on the japanese meaning of "paper folding", and because it's now a part of our speech, it's probably ok to build a plural from it. I don't know if the japanese ist even pronounced like "origami"... maybe some japanese can approve or disapprove?

[Edwin Corrie]

A useful reference for this is Eric Kenneway's "ABC of Origami" (BOS Booklet No. 47). He says that "origami" can refer either to the art of paperfolding, or to the actual paper used, or to a finished model. The second usage doesn't seem to be very common, but I've definitely heard Japanese folders using "origami" to mean "model" (e.g. "this origami...")

It's true that the word has been adopted into English now, but I personally wouldn't add the English "-s" plural marker, and I don't think I've ever heard anyone else use it either. "Models" is the most common term, although some people find that too trivial and prefer "designs", "folds" or "figures". Kenneway says that "figures" is the preferred term in America. There is also "works", but I'd tend use that when referring to the work of an acknowledged master such as Yoshizawa. Talking about your own models (plural) or those of a friend you could say "my origami" and "your origami".

I think the term "origami" itself is believed to have been coined by the Japanese on analogy with the German "Papierfalten", as used by Fröbel in his Kindergarten schools. Kenneway says that before about 1880 the Japanese used the terms "orikata" (= folding sequence/method) or "orisue" (not sure what that means literally).

And yes, the Japanese characters are pronounced "origami", except that the "R" is pronounced a bit more like an "L".

Sorry to go on so long, but the combination of two of my favourite subjects (origami and language(s)) was too hard to resist.

[Alexandre]

Very very interesting, thanks !

[Ondrej.Cibulka]

Origami is a Japanese word, therefore the form Origami(e)s as plural does not exist.

At one english lesson, our teacher said to us that English is very dynamic language and we could find and build new words if we need it. And everyone will understand to us. And she said that this is one of main reasons why she loves English.

[Daydreamer]

Rikki Donachie has an article about the word Origami on his homepage:
http://www.itsjustabitofpaper.com/Writi ... eword.html