Indigo and cabbage
In the first comment to this post on a Northeastern topolectal word for kohlrabi, "piě-le 丿了" (cf. MSM piělán 苤蓝), Jenny Chu astutely asked whether the second syllable is related to the Chinese word for the color blue, lán 藍 (also "indigo", for which see below).
That sent me scurrying, since — although I was vaguely aware of a secondary meaning besides "indigo, blue" of "cabbage" for lán 藍 — I could not recall ever hearing any convincing / satisfying explanation for what the relation between these two meanings is.
Some early Chinese authors and commentators do assert that the leaves of cruciferous vegetables (Brassicaceae, colloquially called cole crops in North America) are referred to as lán 藍 due to their color. However, because of my background knowledge of words for cabbage, kale, etc. in many other languages, I did not find that a satisfying explanation. So I decided to dig deeper into the mystery of the dual identity of lán 藍: indigo and cabbage.
I believe that what I came up with will illuminate the conundrum.
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