tanka

Where does the word "tanka" come from? It comes from Japanese tanka, and was adopted directly into English (early 1900s).

Tanka’s story begins in Japanese: tanka meant “a short, five-line classical poem.” Literally 'short poem', a classical 31-syllable verse form predating haiku. It reached English by early 1900s as tanka. Japanese 'short poem'; the Man'yōshū anthology of the 700s contains thousands. Today, tanka means a classical Japanese poetic form of thirty-one syllables in five lines.

1. Stage 1 · Japanese · ancient tanka "a short, five-line classical poem", literally 'short poem', a classical 31-syllable verse form predating haiku.
2. Stage 2 · English · early 1900s tanka "a traditional Japanese five-line, 31-syllable poem", Japanese 'short poem'; the Man'yōshū anthology of the 700s contains thousands.