{"id":47770,"date":"2020-07-22T08:25:59","date_gmt":"2020-07-22T13:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=47770"},"modified":"2020-07-22T08:25:59","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T13:25:59","slug":"another-northeastern-topolectal-term-without-specified-characters-to-write-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=47770","title":{"rendered":"Another Northeastern topolectal term without specified characters to write it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday Diana Shuheng Zhang and I went to a Trader Joe's and saw some pretty, gleaming yellow berries for sale.\u00a0 Diana was delighted because it reminded her of the same type of berries she used to eat when she was back home in the Northeast of China.<\/p>\r\n

I asked her what they were called in Northeast topolect (D\u014dngb\u011bi hu\u00e0 \u4e1c\u5317\u8bdd).\u00a0 Her answer both intrigued and amused me:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

They are called gu1niao3 or gu1niang3; either way is fine and either way is used by many people interchangeably. Even for myself, I sometimes say the first one, sometimes the second one, depends on… well, randomly. Haha!<\/div>\r\n
\u00a0<\/div>\r\n
Then the inevitable question:\u00a0 how do you write gu1niao3 and gu1niang3 in characters?<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

Usually when we see them sold in streets, the tablet would write:<\/div>\r\n
\u00a0<\/div>\r\n
\u59d1\u9e1f\uff0c\u83c7\u9e1f\uff0c\u83c7\u8311\uff0c\u8c37\u9e1f (cuckoo!!) [for the first]<\/div>\r\n
\u00a0<\/div>\r\n
OR<\/div>\r\n
\u00a0<\/div>\r\n
\u59d1\u5a18 (girl)\uff0c\u83c7\u5a18\u3002 [for the second]<\/div>\r\n
\u00a0<\/div>\r\n
The fruit's name is a mishmash, but its flavor is distinct — one would never miss out the tangy, sweet, exciting\u00a0taste! It is actually one of my favorite fruits. :) They come in yellow or red. The red ones are usually wild and the yellow ones usually sold in market; the red ones are what the kids would search for and enjoy in situ<\/i>\u00a0when they run in the wild grasslands, and the yellow ones are treats for the family. I also think that the red ones are more north and yellow ones more south? When\u00a0I grew up in Jilin (J\u00edl\u00edn sh\u011bng J\u00edl\u00edn sh\u00ec \u5409\u6797\u7701\u5409\u6797\u5e02)<\/a>, red ones were everywhere. But after I moved to Dalian — perhaps because\u00a0Dalian<\/a> is a more urbanized big city — I could barely find the red ones, but only sitting at my dinner table and eating the sweet, big yellow ones that my mom bought for me.\u00a0<\/div>\r\n
\u00a0<\/div>\r\n
So many childhood memories.<\/div>\r\n

Trader Joe's markets this fruit as \"Golden Berries\".\u00a0 I remember when they first started showing up in specialty stores like Martindale's<\/a> (America's first health food store right near my home), they were sold with their naturally occurring papery sheaths, which accounts for one of the names in Mandarin:\u00a0 d\u0113ngl\u00f3ng gu\u01d2 \u706f\u7b3c\u679c<\/a> (\"paper lantern fruit\").\u00a0 You would peel off the papery covering to find the shiny yellow berries inside that were covered with a waxy, oily substance that was easy to wash off.<\/p>\r\n

Another Chinese name for this fruit is B\u00ecl\u01d4 k\u01d4 zh\u012b \u79d8\u9c81\u82e6\u8635, which must be an attempt to render the scientific name of the plant, Physalis peruviana<\/a>, at least the first part of it.<\/p>\r\n

Physalis peruviana<\/b><\/i>, a plant species of the genus Physalis<\/a><\/i> in the nightshade family Solanaceae<\/a>, has its origin in Peru<\/a>. The plant and its fruit are commonly called Cape gooseberry<\/b>, goldenberry<\/b>, and physalis<\/b>, among numerous regional names. The history of Physalis cultivation in South America<\/a> can be traced to the Inca<\/a>. It has been cultivated in England<\/a> since the late 18th century, and in South Africa<\/a> in the Cape of Good Hope<\/a> since at least the start of the 19th century. Widely introduced in the 20th century, P. peruviana<\/i> is cultivated or grows wild across the world in temperate<\/a> and tropical<\/a> regions.<\/p>\r\n

P. peruviana<\/i> is an economically useful crop as an exotic exported fruit and favored in breeding and cultivation programs<\/a> in many countries.<\/p>\r\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\r\n

One name for Physalis peruviana<\/a><\/i> is Inca berry<\/b>; another is Cape gooseberry<\/b>, not to be confused with the true gooseberries<\/a>, which are of the genus Ribes<\/a><\/i> in the family Grossulariaceae. Other names used to refer to the fruit are poha berries<\/b>, and simply golden berries.<\/b><\/p>\r\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\r\n

In case you were wondering, \"physalis\" means \"bladder\" (from Greek phusall\u00eds<\/span> \u03c6\u03c5\u03c3\u03b1\u03bb\u03bb\u03af\u03c2)<\/span>.\u00a0 Since Physalis peruviana<\/i> is a member of the nightshade family, that means it is also related to the potato, tomato, and eggplant.<\/p>\r\n

\u00a0<\/div>\r\n
Selected readings<\/b><\/div>\r\n
\u00a0<\/div>\r\n