AboutDreams Expertise I have been teaching myself the language for the past seven years, having consistent practice with Japanese materials. I can help translate things from English to Japanese or vice versa. I can also help you get started if you're planning on taking up the language. =) I'm most familiar with things like anime, manga, J-pop, games and so on.
Experience I began learning the language in 1999. I frequently talk with penpals and natives in Japan, as well as continually keep up practicing with authentic Japanese materials.
Question I've been reading about several wide-ranging plant species (namely their flowers) recently, and I've run into something of a problem with a few of them. I'm doing a report about common plant species (and the history of their uses, etc). Anyways, I can often find the Latin, Greek, and European names for them, but I can never seem to find either a Japanese name or at least the Japanese pronounciation of them, and I was just wondering if an expert might have a better chance than me :P
There are two plants in particular, namely Coriander (sometimes called Cilantro), and the Linden/Lime tree, technically called the Tilia (and not actually related to the citrus fruit-bearing tree of the Lime name).
If you can helpI'd greatly appreciate it! It's just that it seems like the two of them would have "local" names or sometihng that aren't appearing in any of the sources I've checked.
Answer Hello,
Your question took a bit of research, but I actually came up with more information than you probably need. ;)
First, coriander/cilantro. The actual Japanese name for this plant is コエンドロ ('koendoro', which is apparently frequently romanized as 'coentro'). A second lesser-used Japanese name is カメムシソウ ('kamemushisou') - this is taken from the generic Greek name カメムシ ('kamemushi'), which in itself is derived from the word 'koriannon'. Additionally, there is a second Greek-based name for the plant that appears in Japanese, ナンキンムシ ('nankinmushi').
We're not done yet! (At least, I'm not. I get excited about foreign languages.) There is also a slang term for the plant, 中国パセリ ('chuugoku paseri'), meaning "Chinese parsley". But on top of that, Japan also borrowed the Chinese hanzi (香菜) referring to coriander to make two MORE terms: 'kousai' (a Japanese pronounciation of the characters), and 'shantsai' (the actual name of the plant as pronounced in Mandarin Chinese).
Other names that would probably very rarely appear in Japanese usage included the Cantonese version (芫荽, aka ユーンスイ - 'yuunsui'), the Thai name (ผักชี, aka パクチー - 'pakuchii'), the Vietnamese name (rau mùi, aka ザウムイ - 'zaumui'), and of course シラントロ ('shirantoro' - the phonetic translation of 'cilantro').
Surprisingly, it looks like the term コリアンダー ('koriandaa' - phonetic translation of coriander) is used more than ANY of the above. But if you wanted to pick the most authentic one, コエンドロ/coentro is it.
The linden tree was much less complicated. :)
The specific name for the Japanese Lime (aka the Tilia Japonica) is 'shinanoki' (written either 科の木 or シナノキ). The overall family name (equating to 'tiliaceae') used for the tree is シナノキ科 ('shinanokika'). Only one additional term popped up, 菩提樹 ('bodaiju', or the bodhi tree) - but as for this, I don't know if this is a specific type of linden tree? I thought it might help anyway.
