The root of the word soboro which means streusel


What is the root of the word soboro bread ?




I see evidence in Korean-language sources (such as
[Naver](http://krdic.naver.com/detail.nhn?docid=21860000)) that KO
[소]{so}[보]{bo}[로]{ro} probably comes from JA そ{so}ぼ{bo}ろ{ro}.

The Japanese food そぼろ is essentially powdered fish. However, according to my
copy of Shogakukan's 国語大辞典 ("Big Dictionary of Japanese"), the term そぼろ can
also refer to something that is clumped together irregularly. The initial part
of そぼろ consists of そ{so}ぼ{bo}, a root found in various terms with common
themes of "ragged, shabby"; "sopping wet"; "drizzle, gentle rain". The ending
ろ{ro} is a suffix indicating state, and this is probably related to the ら{ra}
ending (further suffixed with か{ka} as らか{raka}) on many older _-na_
adjectives.

The _soboro_ in Korean [소]{so}[보]{bo}[로]{ro}[빵]{ppang} ("soboro bread") might
conceivably borrow the Japanese sense of "clumped together irregularly" in
reference to the knobbly bumpy surface, similar to メ{me}ロ{ro}ン{n}パ{pa}ン{n}
("melon bread"). Compare [pictures of
[소]{so}[보]{bo}[로]{ro}[빵]{ppang}](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%EC%86%8C%EB%B3%B4%EB%A1%9C%EB%B9%B5%22&tbm=isch)
and [pictures of
メ{me}ロ{ro}ン{n}パ{pa}ン{n}](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E3%83%A1%E3%83%AD%E3%83%B3%E3%83%91%E3%83%B3%22&tbm=isch)

I will research this more fully and expand this answer later.

### Update

Notably, I find that there seems to also be a Japanese _soboro pan_. See
[pictures
here](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E3%81%9D%E3%81%BC%E3%82%8D%E3%83%91%E3%83%B3%22&tbm=isch).
I cannot tell if this might be a borrowing from Korean cooking / the Korean
language. There's an interesting bilingual KO - JA blog page
[here](http://ameblo.jp/ganadanavi/entry-11588109627.html) that talks about
_soboro pan_.

