Two Japanese Vegetable Names Borrowed From Korean

Abstract. Neither J suzuna 'turnip' nor suzusiro 'radish' has a good J-internal etymology. But suzuna is similar in form to OK *swuy 'turnip' + *s + *no 'greens'. Likewise, suzusiro resembles OK *swuy + *s + *silay 'radish' (cf. silayki 'dried radish leaves'). Since turnips and radishes in China go back only about 2500 years and are known to have originated farther west, J suzuna and suzusiro are likely to be phrases borrowed into Japanese from Korean in proto-historic times.