/
15.08.2010 at 12:00 am
Cuttings

海老

Old People of the Sea

... 和語の「えび」は、元々は葡萄のこと、あるいはその色のことを指す言葉であった。葡萄の色に似ていることから蝦・海老のことを「えび」と呼ぶようになった。現在でも「葡萄色」と書いて「えびいろ」とも読む。「海老」の字は、長い触角(ひげ)と曲がった腰を老人に見立てたものである。

The Japanese word, ebi, originally referred to grapes (and their colour). Shrimps came to be called ebi because of how they resembled the colour of grapes. Even now, dark, grape-like purplish-red colours are still read as "the colour of grapes (ebi)".

As for the use of the kanji characters 海 ('sea') and 老 ('old people'): shrimps are likened to old people because of their long beards (feelers) and curved backs.

Of prawns and their likeness to grapes and the elderly.


Metadata:

Filed under:
#
#
#
#
Words: 87 words approx.
Time to read: 0.35 mins (at 250 wpm)
Keywords:
, , , , , , , , ,

Other suggested posts

  1. 31.07.2022 at 10:08 pm / Hades And (Non-Ending) Desk Jobs
  2. 08.06.2022 at 04:13 pm / Counsel vs Client Perspectives
  3. 30.12.2018 at 10:06 pm / Castles and Air
  4. 22.08.2018 at 02:13 pm / Heinrich Schliemann's Learning Method
  5. 04.01.2018 at 12:00 am / Java Almost Requires An IDE
  6. 09.07.2016 at 12:00 am / The Lawgiving Coder
  7. 11.08.2015 at 12:00 am / Proper Denials and Bare Denials
  8. 18.06.2015 at 12:00 am / Crisp Tweets
© Wan Zafran. See disclaimer.