Take the 2-minute tour ×  From the beginning of the novel "The
Grove", what does the る mean in  検非違使に問われた る 木樵りの物語  問われた is the
passive of 問う, but where does the る come from? Is it the short
form of いる?  share|improve this question possible duplicate of
What exactly is a "taru adjective" –  Flaw Oct 1 '12 at 15:12
@Flaw Not a duplicate. "taru adjective" is a contraction of "to
ar-", while -tar- in the verb is a contraction of "te ar-".
However, the discussion on attributive is the same. –  Dono Oct
1 '12 at 15:19  1 Answer 1  up vote 8 down vote accepted  It is
the completive particle -tar in attributive form.  The past
suffix -ta, which are familiar with, is from the suffix tar-.
tar- conjugates:    • irrealis: -tara   • adverbial: -tari   •
conclusive: -tari   • attributive: -taru   • realis (or
hypothetical): -tare   • imperative: -tare  Other than -naru,
modern Japanese does not distinguish between conclusive and
attributive anymore. But originally conclusive was used to end a
sentence. A period followed