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Vietnamese
Etymology
According to the Vietnamese folktale Sự tích trái dưa hấu (Legend of the Watermelon), the name dưa hấu derives from dưa (“melon”) + a non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of 好 (SV: hảo), but this is most likely just folk etymology.
Compare also 煦 (SV: hú), which has an uncommon meaning 赤 "red" - following Shuowen Jiezi and Yupian[1] - and one of whose Old Chinese pronunciations was 煦 (OC *qʰoʔ) (ZS). If hấu indeed reflexed *qʰoʔ, then dưa hấu would have been a compound of dưa (“melon”) + hấu, which is obsolete, meant "red", and referred to the color of the fruit's fresh.
Pronunciation
Noun
(classifier trái, quả) dưa hấu
- watermelon
References
- ^ 《康熙字典·火部·九》煦; quote: (又《說文》一曰赤貌。《玉篇》赤色也。)