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On The Japanese Etymology of ‘Katol’
Fellow Filipinos, remember this?
This sure is one timeless commercial, oh [in]famous Dragon Katol. The line “Dragon kung umuwsok… leymowk seyguradong teypok!”1 never gets old. So… katol.
If only she had Dragon Katol, tsk.2
Katol is the Tagalog word for mosquito coil or mosquito incense, and apparently, it was adopted from the Japanese word 蚊取 [katori], its Japanese counterpart (literally it’s “to get [取り] mosquito(es) [蚊]“). Discovered this by accident, as I came across 蚊 [ka] (mosquito) in the Kanzen Master kanji book I’m using for my JLPT1 studies, which eventually led me to 蚊取 [katori]. One little Google search was all it took to confirm my hypothesis: Mosquito incense = katol, so katori = katol?
“Katol is one of the few Japanese words that have entered Filipino vocabulary, although most do not know of its origin.”, according to the Tagalog Lang site. True enough, almost all of my officemates didn’t know this, and neither did I. Do you?
Makes me wonder if there are any other Japanese loan words in Filipino. Perhaps suka (vinegar) is one of them… 酢 [su] = vinegar => su-ka? *ba dum psh* In any case, feel free to share what you know about them Japanese loan words, may it be in Tagalog or other languages, it’ll make for a real fun discovery 
Further Reading
On the Etymology of Arigatou, where I managed to confuse the heck out of people with all the kanji talk.
Fellow chef absolute0 also talked about the Etymology of Mouryou back when he was still blogging
- Translated as: “Smokes like a dragon, mosquitoes are surely exterminated!”, done in the stereotypical speaking-Tagalog-with-an-American-accent way. Otherwise that line would’ve simply been “Dragon kung umusok… lamok siguradong tepok!” [↩]
- The image became even more punny when 蚊噛み came to mind, something I made up on a whim. 蚊[ka] (mosquito) + 噛み[kami] (bite) = Kagami. Get it? Okay you may laugh now. [↩]
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“Tsaa” probably came from Japan too.
This post made me actually think about the Filipino’s habit of word osmosis, even at the expense of getting the word in another mistaken meaning altogether. I mean, we’ve seen the most prominent examples in “Tagalized” American words, and I see examples of these in Japanese, too. Though I don’t really want to point it out, language is always in danger of being alienated in the hands of the foreign people.
Ohhhh something I would be telling my friends now!!! hehehehe…
Wow that is hard… our language Filipino should be an amalgation of the several main dialects spoken in the country. But alas who are our law makers kidding. Filipino is heavily reliant to the Tagalog dialect only. So our kababayans in the south feel betrayed and are averse in using it. Heck we still do not really have an official dictionary! Such is the state of our language… but Shane did mention a good point.
The only difference in Japanese is that they have a level of consciousness that word came from foreign origin because it is written in katakana, right? With that also, the word takes on its own nuance right?
I can only say Filipino words becoming part of the American dictionary at least… boondocs right? hehehe
Well the proper known Imelda became an adjective for someone who is greedy… that is rather a bad example though… 
Well maybe “tsaa” came from Chinese? I mean the Japanese just also copied that from Chinese right? So katori? Is it from Japanese origin meaning its all kunyomi or all onyomi? If its onyomi there is a possibility that the Chinese really thought of it first?
“Tsaa” may actually apply for the Japanese word for tea, which is “Ocha”.
As for Japanese dialects, it’s envious to see them using different dialects and still being able to understand what everyone’s saying aside from their different dictions, like when someone from Kyoto, who uses Kansai-ben, is able to freely talk and understand someone from Tokyo, who speaks normal Japanese.
@sabog: “Tsaa” most likely came from the Chinese, because that’s where the Japanese got it from.
@Shance: The better example for that alienation, instead of Tagalized American words, would be words that look authentically local and sariling atin, when in fact it isn’t. Like katol, among others.
As for what you said about Japanese dialects, I think you’re giving them too much credit. Even Japanese have a hard time understanding dialects in other parts of their country (proof). Just so happens that much of what we see in films and in print are the standard Japanese dialects, not those in the more rural areas. And that despite the different dialects, their written form is universal. Same with Chinese.
@maAkusutipen: All onyoumi for cha, so definitely Chinese.
As awesome as it seems that we have zOMG a plethora of dialects, it’s a double edged sword when you think of it as a sign of our lack of unity as a country. People in the south end up feeling the minority too.
As for loan words in the Japanese language, the sense of consciousness might be lost when they use ateji for the borrowed words. I can only wonder if the next generation would know that words like 倶楽部 and 般若波羅蜜多 are simply ‘kanji representations of foreign words’. There’s also tempura, which apparently, isn’t authentically Japanese but from the Portuguese tempero.
Yeah I forgot about ateji!
I hate them! wahwhawah… especially in shounen manga… Also i think you will hate them too if you are going to take the 1kyuu exam because apparently the goi part has a separate section on them, well at least that was what I was told.
But I think using ateji is an old practice and not really used for modern word acquisitions though. Yeah you have things like tempura but the new words like apo, eco and all those new buzzwords came from somewhere right and is written in katakana.?
Oh one good ateji is お転婆さん. It comes from the Dutch ontembaar, which according to online dictionaries means “indomitable, never-say-die, unsubduable“. It is used for calling tomboys.
So for katori all onyomi as well? hehehe
Also one cool application of ateji is make your name into Japanese. Its hard though for something like Stephen. But names like Ivan can become 愛絆.
Dialects serve as a sense of uniqueness aside from the fact that the people are united in one country’s banner. It’s just that our country’s case is one of the extreme, where the strive for uniqueness drives the people away out of the general populace’s understanding and into their own little appreciative land. It shouldn’t be that way.