源五郎鮒

Compound of 源五郎 (Gengorō, “male given name”) +‎ 鮒 (funa, “crucian carp”). The funa changes to buna due to rendaku (連濁).

According to one theory, the Gengorō portion was the name of a fisherman who fished in Lake Biwa, and every morning, presented the best of his catch of funa to the local lord. In another theory, this term arose from a tale about a Lake Biwa fisherman named Gengorō, who fell in love with a noblewoman and arranged a secret meeting with her by hiding a note inside a gengorōbuna fish that he had caught and presented to her.

Like many biology terms, this word is often spelled in katakana, as ゲンゴロウブナ.

• Mixed:
  • On'yomi for Gengorō
  • Kun'yomi for buna
• (Tokyo) げんごろーぶ​な [gèńgóróóbúꜜnà] (Nakadaka – [6])[1]
• IPA^(key): [ɡẽ̞ŋɡo̞ɾo̞ːbɯ̟ᵝna̠]

源五郎鮒 (hiragana げんごろうぶな, katakana ゲンゴロウブナ, rōmaji gengorōbuna, historical hiragana げんごらうぶな)

1. Carassius cuvieri the Japanese crucian carp or white crucian carp, a type of 鮒 (funa, “crucian carp”), an edible freshwater ray-finned fish related to carp and goldfish and endemic to Lake Biwa in Japan

• 源五郎鮒 on the Japanese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^ja
• Carassius cuvieri on Wikipedia.Wikipedia