Words for Ginkgo in Japanese: ぎんきょう and ぎんなん


I decided to read about the words for _Ginkgo_ in Japanese (as in _Ginkgo
biloba_ ).

I was surprised to learn that _Ginkgo_ comes from Japanese! According to
[Wikipedia](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A4%E3%83%81%E3%83%A7%E3%82%A6),
Engelbert Kaempfer, while writing the _Amoenitatum exoticarum_ , read the
kanji 銀杏 as ぎんきょう. He romanized this reading as _Ginkjo_ , which was then
unfortunately misprinted as _Ginkgo_ , resulting in the spelling used in many
Western languages today.

![銀杏 with romanisation and Latin name](https://i.stack.imgur.com/A7m2T.jpg)

From the same article, I see that イチョウ is a common word for _Ginkgo_ plants,
apparently from the Chinese
[鴨脚](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/detail?p=%E9%8A%80%E6%9D%8F&stype=1&dtype=0). It
seems that this word was assigned to the kanji 銀杏 as a jukujikun reading, and
we can see that _both_ readings existed 300 years ago, because Kaempfer _also_
transcribed イチョウ (as _Itsjo_ ).

In fact, 銀杏 has a third reading, ぎんなん. Similar to ぎんきょう, it appears that this
reading was made by putting two on'yomi together: ぎん＋あん＝ぎんあん→ぎんなん. But here's
what makes me curious about the difference between the readings:
[大辞林](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&stype=1&dtype=0&dname=0ss&p=%E9%8A%80%E6%9D%8F)
and
[大辞泉](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&stype=1&dtype=0&dname=0na&p=%E9%8A%80%E6%9D%8F)
only list ぎんなん, not ぎんきょう. And 300 years ago, Kaempfer only transcribed ぎんきょう,
not ぎんなん.

It seems that both ぎんきょう and ぎんなん mean the same thing ( _Ginkgo_ plants or
seeds). But what is the relationship between the two readings?

  1. Did ぎんなん replace ぎんきょう, making the latter obsolete?
  2. Or are both readings still used?




杏 has as three 音読み, namely アン, キョウ, コウ, of which Kaempfer transcribed the
first two (including ギンナン, as the picture shows). I don't consider too far a
stretch of the imagination to think that Kaempfer simply asked for readings
銀杏, and was told that you can read it as ギンキョウ, ギンナン, or イチョウ.

The [text accompanying the
picture](http://kwanten.home.xs4all.nl/kaempfer.htm) says that the seed was
called ギンナン (already in 1700). (He describes it resembling a "Persian
pistachio", just twice as big.) He also says that イチョウ was the common name for
the tree.

In current usage, too, 銀杏 is read ぎんなん and means the _seed_ of the Gingko
tree. (In fact many supermarkets do sell Gingko seeds under the name 銀杏.) The
tree itself is called イチョウ, which may also be written 銀杏, by 熟字訓, like you
said.

I think we can conclude that ギンナン did not replace ギンキョウ, but rather ギンキョウ has
fallen out of use with the common name イチョウ surviving in its place.




杏 has as three 音読み, namely アン, キョウ, コウ, of which Kaempfer transcribed the
first two (including ギンナン, as the picture shows). I don't consider too far a
stretch of the imagination to think that Kaempfer simply asked for readings
銀杏, and was told that you can read it as ギンキョウ, ギンナン, or イチョウ.

The [text accompanying the
picture](http://kwanten.home.xs4all.nl/kaempfer.htm) says that the seed was
called ギンナン (already in 1700). (He describes it resembling a "Persian
pistachio", just twice as big.) He also says that イチョウ was the common name for
the tree.

In current usage, too, 銀杏 is read ぎんなん and means the _seed_ of the Gingko
tree. (In fact many supermarkets do sell Gingko seeds under the name 銀杏.) The
tree itself is called イチョウ, which may also be written 銀杏, by 熟字訓, like you
said.

I think we can conclude that ギンナン did not replace ギンキョウ, but rather ギンキョウ has
fallen out of use with the common name イチョウ surviving in its place.

