ABSTRACT
The meaning of aru is 'to be' in the sense of 'to exist', and it is important to understand that aru by itself cannot act as a copula between the terms of a proposition. The sentence tamago ari means 'there are eggs' and cannot possibly convey the meaning 'they are eggs'. The primary significance of aru, then, is to predicate existence of a subject. The following are early examples of its use in this sense:
sakashime wo ari to kikashite kuwashime wo ari to kikashite (K.)
kagiri wa (M.) ie ni aru imo (M.)
there is a time when flowers fade
so long as I am in this world
of a thing, coupled with the fact of its existence. are predicated in a single proposition. When it is deslred to predicate of a thing some state or property, the verb aru can be compounded with an adjective in the conjunctive form, e. g. shirokari =shiroku ari, 'is white'. Thus kono kana wa shirokari is a proposition which states that the attribute of whiteness exists in the case of certain flowers. I t means' these flowers are white', but it does not state that , these flowers are white and exist' (in which case ari would be a principal verb). Ari may therefore in this usage be regarded as an auxiliary verb.
