馬鈴薯

Suzuki (2013) suggests that 馬鈴／马铃 (mǎlíng) may be a corruption of 馬來／马来 (Mǎlái, “Malay”), but the form 馬來薯／马来薯 has never been attested, and as Xiang (2018) points out, potato is a a temperate crop rarely cultivated in hot and humid tropical Asia.

The earliest known attestation in Chinese is found in the Kangxi edition of the Gazetteer of Songxi County (松溪縣志, 1700), but it is described as a tree climber with blackish tubers tasting bitterish and therefore should refer to air potato (Dioscorea bulbifera) instead of potato. The name is probably an allusion to the way the bulbils of air potato look like bells used in the tack for horses. The Japanese herbalist Ono Ranzan (小野蘭山) misapplied the name to potato in Tetsuen Shōtoku (耋筵小牘, 1808), and this altered denotation was first borrowed into Chinese by Huang Zunxian (黃遵憲) in the late 19th century (Xiang, 2018).

馬鈴薯

1. potato (Solanum tuberosum)
2. (archaic) air potato (Dioscorea bulbifera)

• → Lingao: ma⁴ liŋ¹ su⁴
• → Zhuang: majlingzsuz

It has been suggested that 馬鈴 (barei) may be an ateji for Malay, but the earliest attestation in Japanese sources is found in Tetsuen Shōtoku (耋筵小牘, 1808) where the Japanese herbalist Ono Ranzan (小野蘭山) clearly indicates that the term is taken from a Chinese source, the Gazetteer of Songxi County (松溪縣志, 1700). However, the Chinese term should refer to air potato (Dioscorea bulbifera) instead of potato, as it is described as a tree climber with blackish tubers tasting bitterish. The name is probably an allusion to the way the bulbils of air potato look like bells used in the tack for horses. Ono Ranzan misapplied the name to potato, and this altered denotation, in spite of strong criticisms from the botanist Makino Tomitaro (牧野富太郎), prevailed over the original meaning (Xiang, 2018).

• (Tokyo) ばれーしょ [bàrééshó] (Heiban – [0])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [ba̠ɾe̞ːɕo̞]

馬(ば)鈴(れい)薯(しょ) • (bareisho) 

1. synonym of ジャガ芋 (jagaimo, “potato (Solanum tuberosum)”)