菠薐

Around 674 C.E., borrowed from Sanskrit पालङ्क (pālaṅka), पालङ्क्य (pālaṅkya), पालक्या (pālakyā, “Indian spinach (Beta bengalensis)”), possibly via some ancient language in modern-day Nepal. Compare modern Nepali पालुङ्गो (pāluṅgo, “spinach”), Assamese পালেং (paleṅ), Bengali পালং (paloṅ, “spinach (Spinacia oleracea)”). Possibly the source of 菠菜 (bōcài).

Alternative etymology relates this word to the name of an ancient kingdom in India. Examples of such suggestions include:

• Wei Xuan of the Tang Dynasty, who remarked that:

  豈非頗稜國將來，而語訛為菠稜耶？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
  岂非颇棱国将来，而语讹为菠棱耶？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

  Qǐ fēi Pōléng Guó jiāng lái, ér yǔ é wèi bōléng yē? [Pinyin]

  Isn't it because it [i.e. spinach] came from the country p’olang, that it got its name polang?

• Sun Yi (孫奕) of the Song Dynasty also said:

  《藝苑雌黃》云……蔬品有頗陵者，昔人自頗陵國將其子來，因以為名，今俗乃從艸而為菠薐。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
  《艺苑雌黄》云……蔬品有颇陵者，昔人自颇陵国将其子来，因以为名，今俗乃从艸而为菠薐。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

  “Yìyuàn Cíhuáng” yún...... Shūpǐn yǒu pōlíng zhě, xīrén zì Pōlíng Guó jiāng qí zǐ lái, yīn yǐ wèi míng, jīn sú nǎi cóng cǎo ér wèi bōléng. [Pinyin]

  According to the book Yiyuan Cihuang: The vegetable p’olang, was introduced as seeds from the country p’olang, and hence named. Nowadays its name is written with the 艸 radical, as ‘菠薐’.

Berthold Laufer in his book Sino-Iranica observed that there was a country known from inscriptions called पालक्क (pālakka), which likely lies in present-day Palakkad, Kerala, in Southern India. He conjectured that at the time of introduction of the vegetable, the monks from Nepal also brought with them their own folk etymology of the association between the plant name and the toponym/country name.^[1] Compare modern Hindi पालक (pālak, “spinach”).

菠薐

1. (archaic or dialectal) spinach

   菠薐煮豆腐 [Eastern Min, trad. and simp.]

   puŏ-lìng cṳ̄ dâu-hô / [pʰuo⁵⁵ l̃iŋ⁵³ t͡sy³³ tau²⁴²⁻⁵³ ^(h-)ou²⁴²] [Bàng-uâ-cê / IPA]

   tofu spinach pot

   • 菜之菠薐，本西國中有僧將其子來，如苜蓿、蒲陶，因張騫而至也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     菜之菠薐，本西国中有僧将其子来，如苜蓿、蒲陶，因张骞而至也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Tang Dynasty, Wei Xuan, 《劉賓客嘉話錄》

     Cài zhī bōléng, běn xīguó zhōng yǒu sēng jiāng qí zǐ lái, rú mùxu, pútáo, yīn Zhāng Qiān ér zhì yě. [Pinyin]

     Seeds of the vegetable spinach were originally brought here [to China] by monks from the western country [i.e. India], like alfalfa and grape which were introduced by Zhang Qian.

• → Japanese: 菠薐草
• → Thai: ปวยเล้ง (bpuai-léng) (via Teochew)