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jmdict 1278390 Active (id: 2276447)
幸甚
こうじん
1. [n] [form]
《usu. in letters》
▶ being extremely grateful
▶ being much obliged
▶ being very appreciative
▶ being very happy



History:
7. A 2023-09-06 05:30:55  Jim Breen <...address hidden...>
  Comments:
Or even "(being)".
6. A* 2023-09-06 02:29:30  Robin Scott <...address hidden...>
  Refs:
Oxford (be obliged): be indebted or grateful
  Comments:
adj-na indicates that the word is a 形容動詞, not that it typically takes な. A 形容動詞 doesn't stop being adjectival when it's used predicatively. There are quite a few 形容動詞 that are rarely used attributively.
That being said, I hadn't noticed that sankoku (in contrast to the other kokugos) has 幸甚 as a noun only. Also, I might have been wrong to assume that 幸甚に is adverbial in 幸甚に存じる. Nouns can take に in 〜存じる expressions.
Noun glosses are less elegant but I think 幸甚 is in fact functioning as a noun in all the examples in the JEs and kokugos.
There's only one sense here. I don't think "obliged" is any less correct than the other glosses. It's synonymous with "grateful" within the contexts in which 幸甚 is actually used.
  Diff:
@@ -11 +10,0 @@
-<pos>&adj-na;</pos>
@@ -15,3 +14,4 @@
-<gloss>extremely grateful</gloss>
-<gloss>much obliged</gloss>
-<gloss>very happy</gloss>
+<gloss>being extremely grateful</gloss>
+<gloss>being much obliged</gloss>
+<gloss>being very appreciative</gloss>
+<gloss>being very happy</gloss>
5. A* 2023-09-05 09:26:09  Brian Krznarich <...address hidden...>
  Comments:
I like the glosses here, but I agree with Jim that placing [adj-na] at the front gives the wrong idea about usage.  I imagine the goal of [adj-na,n] is to be consistent with adjective glosses, but really the glosses do not correspond to adj-na usage. 幸甚な母親 is not "an extremely grateful mother".  "幸甚な人" doesn't even return google OR even a single book result.

So putting [adj-na] up front is in a way even more misleading.

As part of the big picture in thinking about this, is there any way you can imagine adding similar glosses (grateful, obliged, happy) to 幸い?  They'd surely make a bigger impact there.

I still think there might be something to the idea of a dedicated [id] sense. The other problem here is that "幸甚" does not literally(or even figuratively) mean "obliged", and right now it kind-of looks like it does... Highlighting that the glosses are idiomatic might help with that.  I realize this is not something that is currently done.
4. A 2023-09-04 22:59:07  Jim Breen <...address hidden...>
  Refs:
幸甚	80252
幸甚な	211
  Comments:
My main concern with having "adj-na" prominent is that implies the use of 幸甚な, which is actually quite rare.
3. A* 2023-09-04 14:58:50  Robin Scott <...address hidden...>
  Comments:
adj-na is correct. It's a 形容動詞 that's only used predicatively or adverbially. 
I don't think "usu. as ~です" is a helpful note, and 幸甚に存じます only accounts for a little over 10% of usage. It's difficult to explain how the word is used without cluttering the entry. I think a simple "usu. in letters" note is sufficient.
  Diff:
@@ -10,0 +11 @@
+<pos>&adj-na;</pos>
@@ -13,4 +14,4 @@
-<s_inf>usu. as ~です, ~に存じます, etc.</s_inf>
-<gloss>(being) deeply grateful</gloss>
-<gloss>(being) much obliged</gloss>
-<gloss>(being) very pleased</gloss>
+<s_inf>usu. in letters</s_inf>
+<gloss>extremely grateful</gloss>
+<gloss>much obliged</gloss>
+<gloss>very happy</gloss>
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