Comment by tkgally

3 years ago

This reminds of a list I’ve been compiling for the past couple of years: English-language software and products with names taken from Japanese. I find them interesting because there has long been awareness, discussion, and controversy in Japan about the opposite phenomenon—English words used in Japanese.

The following examples all came from HN:

Koi Pond, a load testing tool. Koi (鯉) means “carp.”

https://slack.engineering/load-testing-with-koi-pond/

Anki, a flash card tool often mentioned in HN discussions. Anki (暗記) means “memorization.”

https://apps.ankiweb.net/

Bento, a framework for development of Linux kernel file systems. A bento (弁当) is a meal in a box.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.09723

Umami, a website analytics tool. Umami (旨味)’s original meaning is “taste, flavor, deliciousness”; it now also refers to a particular basic taste sensation.

https://umami.is/

Senpai, a gaming assistant. Senpai (先輩) means “someone senior to or older than one, typically in an educational or workplace hierarchy.”

https://senpai.gg/

Shodan, a search engine. Shodan (初段) means “first-level ranking in a skill, etc.”

https://www.shodan.io/

YubiKey, an authentication device. Yubi (指) means “finger.”

https://www.yubico.com/

Asahi Linux. Asahi (朝日, 旭) means “morning sun.”

https://asahilinux.org/about/

Neko, a virtual browser. Neko (猫) means “cat.”

https://github.com/m1k1o/neko

Kaitai Struct, a declarative language for binary data structures. Kaitai (解体) means “disassembly.”

https://kaitai.io/

Hikari, a custom logon script engine for Windows. Hikari (光) means “light.”

https://github.com/NoenDex/Hikari

Hikari, a Wayland compositor.

https://hikari.acmelabs.space/

Hikari, a thread manager and dispatcher.

https://artificialilliteracy.wordpress.com/2015/06/27/introd...

> Shodan, a search engine. Shodan (初段) means “first-level ranking in a skill, etc.”

In this context it's more likely a reference to the malevolent AI in the 1994 video game System Shock -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHODAN

> Asahi Linux. Asahi (朝日, 旭) means “morning sun.”

As noted on the Asahi web page, it is also the Japanese name for the apple cultivar known in the US as the McIntosh. :)

Of those, the only one I found surprising was yubikey.

My favorite type of loanword is ones that native speakers don't know is a loanword. Fun fact: the "honcho" from "head honcho" is from 班長, "hancho", squad leader.