waga 我が

In Japanese, waga 我が means "my," it's a possessive singular first person pronoun, that's rather archaic, but still has certain usage in modern Japanese. Sometimes, it means "one's own" instead.

It's also spelled 我ヶ, 吾が, 吾ヶ, 我, or 吾.

• Usage
  • One's Own
  • Etymology
• References

Usage

The pronoun waga 我が is literary and not normally used.

In anime, it's normally used by a character that sounds archaic, grandiose, epic, or some chuunibyou 中二病 trying to sound as such.

• waga na wa Megumin! {aaku-wizaado wo nariwashi to shi, saikyou no kougeki mahou "bakuretsu mahou" wo ayatsuru} mono!
  我が名はめぐみん！ アークウィザードを生業とし、最強の攻撃魔法“爆裂魔法”を操る者！
  My name is Megumin! The one [who] {makes arch-wizard [her] profession, and commands the most powerful offensive magic, explosion magic}!
  • shi - ren'youkei 連用形 of suru する.
  • X wo Y to suru
    〇〇を〇〇とする
    To make X Y.
    (eventivizer.)

In modern Japanese, waga is only used to refer to things one is related to, like family members, organizations, and so on.

• waga kuni
  我が国
  My country.
• waga kou
  我が校
  My school.
• waga tou
  我が党
  My political party.
• waga sha
  我が社
  My company. (in the sense of the business I represent.)
• waga ya
  我が家
  My home. My family.

Some more literary and archaic sounding examples:

• waga tomo
  我が友
  My friend.
• waga kimi
  我が君
  My lord. (whom I serve.)

The word wagahai 吾輩, which means something like "my brethren," my nakama 仲間, is an archaic first person pronoun.

Exceptionally, waga-mama わがまま, literally "my way," is treated as an adjective meaning "egoist" instead.

See mama まま for details.

One's Own

In rare cases, waga 我が means "one's own" instead of "my." For example:

• Aburahamu wa waga ko wo ikenie ni sasageta
  アブラハムは我が子を生贄に捧げた
  Abraham gave his own child as a sacrifice.

Etymology

The word waga 我が is written with the same kanji as ware 我, "I," "me." Both words share the same wa わ morpheme, which was also a first person pronoun. Besides these, a 我 was even another first pronoun pronoun.^{(学研全訳古語辞典)}

• aga kimi
  吾君
  My lord.
• waga kimi
  我が君
  (same meaning.)

The ga が is the ga が particle in its archaic possessive function.

• waga ou
  我が王
  My king.
• ware-ra ga ou
  我らが王
  Our king.

This ga が can also be spelled ヶ.

• waga ya
  我ヶ家
  My home.

References

• 我 - 学研全訳古語辞典 via kobun.weblio.jp, accessed 2021-01-02.