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kamikaze - n., an attack requiring the suicide of the attacker, esp. an airborne attack; a person who makes such an attack.
From the English misreading of the kanji* name of the Japanese suicide attackers in the closing stages of the Pacific war -- see Wikipedia -- which were in turn named after the two typhoons that prevented Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274 and 1281 -- again, potted Wikipedia. From Japanese 神風 (pronounced かみかぜ), from kami, divine, god + kaze, wind = "divine wind."
* Which is to say, kamikaze is one of the pronunciations of that kanji, but not the one being used for the Divine Wind Special Attack Units. Gotta love polyvalent writing sytems.
---L.
From the English misreading of the kanji* name of the Japanese suicide attackers in the closing stages of the Pacific war -- see Wikipedia -- which were in turn named after the two typhoons that prevented Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274 and 1281 -- again, potted Wikipedia. From Japanese 神風 (pronounced かみかぜ), from kami, divine, god + kaze, wind = "divine wind."
* Which is to say, kamikaze is one of the pronunciations of that kanji, but not the one being used for the Divine Wind Special Attack Units. Gotta love polyvalent writing sytems.
---L.
