蒜

Translingual

Han character

蒜 (Kangxi radical 140, 艸+10, 13 strokes, cangjie input 廿一火火 (TMFF), four-corner 4499₁, composition ⿱艹祘)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1048, character 22
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 31562
• Dae Jaweon: page 1510, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3259, character 13
• Unihan data for U+849C

Chinese

Wikipedia has an article on:

• 蒜

Glyph origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sloːns) : semantic 艸 + phonetic 祘 (OC *sloːns).

Etymology

Matisoff considers this to be derived from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *swa-n (“garlic”), but more likely this may be a plant imported from the Western Regions in the Qin–Han era. The relatively late attestation and the earlier form of 卵蒜 (luǎnsuàn) attest to the latter theory.

Compare Sanskrit लशुन (laśuna), Pali lasuṇa, lasuna. The Old Chinese reconstruction was revised to a *-or rhyme in the Baxter–Sagart system, akin to its homophone 算 (“to calculate”). Hence compare Persian سیر (sir, “garlic”), Khotanese sārmā- (“the plant Basella cordifolia or B. lucida or B. rubra”), Hungarian sárma (“Ornithogalum sp.”), as well as Turkish sarımsak, Mongolian саримс (sarims).

Either way this word is cognate with the second syllable of Burmese ကြက်သွန် (krakswan, “onion”), ကြက်သွန်ဖြူ (krakswanhpru, “garlic”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

蒜

1. garlic

Synonyms

• (Hokkien) 蒜仔

Compounds

Descendants

• → Lisu: ꓢꓪꓮꓠꓸ (swɑ́n)

Japanese

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

蒜

Wikipedia ^ja

Kanji

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: さん (san)
• Kan-on: さん (san)
• Kun: にんにく (ninniku); ひる (hiru)

Etymology 1

Origin uncertain. There are two leading theories.

• Deriving ultimately from some compound and shift of 匂い (nioi, “smell, scent”) + 憎い (nikui, “hateful; bitter”). Possible progression:

⟨nipopi₁⟩ + ⟨niku⟩ → */nipopi niku/ → */nipniku/ → /ninniku/

• Deriving as a shift in meaning from Buddhist term 忍辱 (ninniku, “patience, forbearance, forgiveness”). Apparently garlic was seen as stimulating, and as such it was a forbidden food and monks would have to forbear from eating it, possibly giving rise to use of the term as a euphemism.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) にんにく (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

蒜(にんにく) or 蒜(ニンニク) • (ninniku) 

1. garlic

Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as ニンニク.

Derived terms

• 行者葫(ぎょうじゃにんにく) (gyōjaninniku)
• 浜蒜(はまにんにく) (hamaninniku)

Etymology 2

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *peru (“garlic”). First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ひ​る (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

蒜(ひる) • (hiru) 

1. allium

Derived terms

• 大蒜(おおびる) (ōbiru, “garlic”)
• 根蒜(ねびる) (nebiru), 沢蒜(ねびる) (nebiru)
• 野蒜(のびる) (nobiru)
• 蒜山(ひるぜん) (Hiruzen, “Hiruzen”)

References

Kikai

Kanji

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

Readings

• Kun: ふぃる (firu, 蒜)

Etymology

Cognate with Japanese 蒜(ひる) (hiru).

Noun

蒜(ふぃる) (firu) 

1. garlic

References

• “ふぃる【蒜・葫】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.

Korean

Hanja

蒜 • (san) (hangeul 산, revised san, McCune–Reischauer san, Yale san)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Okinawan

Kanji

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

Readings

• Kun: ひる (hiru, 蒜)

Etymology

Attested in the 沖縄語典 (Okinawa Goten, “Okinawan Dictionary”) as ひる.

Noun

蒜(ひる) (hiru) 

1. garlic

References

Yoron

Kanji

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

Readings

• Kun: ぴる (piru, 蒜)

Etymology

Cognate with Japanese 蒜(ひる) (hiru).

Noun

蒜(ぴる) (piru) 

1. garlic

References

• “ぴる【蒜・葫】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.