いpart. c.
- 筑波嶺のをてもこのもに守部据ゑ母い守れども魂たまぞ合ひにける. Like guards stationed on both sides of Mt. Tsukuba,mother guards me, and yet our souls have met, indeed. 〔万葉〕.
- 青柳の糸のくはしさ春風に乱れぬいまに見せむ子もがも. While the delicate strands of the willows are not yet thrown into confusion by the spring winds, I would have wanted to show it to my girl. 〔万葉〕
Note: Predominantly found in pre-Heian texts, it is dentified by some scholars as an archaic subject marker. There are, however, examples when it was used as the object marker を and attributive marker の. As such, it would seem to be a type of emphatic marker indicating that the noun to which it is attched is the most important element in the sentence, similar to topic the marker は in many--but not all--cases. It is believed by some scholars to be related to the Korean particle ｉ.
いpref. Prefixed to verbs for rhythmical balance and/or emphasis.
- い行く
- い通 ふ
- ·野夫といへどもさすがに情知らぬにはあらず。〔奥の細道〕 He was a farmer, and yet contrary to expectations it was not the case that he did not know refinement
いへども（雖も; kambun 謂）comp.conj. Suffixed to quotative と, formed from 已然形 of 言ふ＋ども. 1Indicates that the statement that follows is contrary to the logic or common standards of the preceding statement, but with greater emphasis than ど or ども alone. Literally, it means "although one would say"
