Kalyna Is Not Gamazumi: Rendering Ukrainian Plant and Animal Names in Japanese

Ukrainian songs, poems and news often mention plant and bird names such as kalyna (калина), leleka (лелека), kashtan (каштан), and soloveiko (соловейко). Look them up in a dictionary and you find translations like “gamazumi” (a viburnum), “stork,” “chestnut,” and “nightingale” — but in many cases these are different species from the ones that go by the same name in Japan.

What connects the two languages is the scientific name (the Latin name). Looking up the scientific name from the Ukrainian name, and then the Japanese common name from the scientific name, reduces mistaken identifications.

The Scientific Name Bridges the Two Languages

Ukraine’s Law “On the Red Book of Ukraine” (February 7, 2002, No. 3055-III) provides, in Article 12, that each species listed in the Red Book be given a name in both Ukrainian and Latin. The Red Book list approved by the government in 2021 likewise pairs Ukrainian names with scientific names. On the Japanese side, the “YList: Japanese-Latin Name Index for Plants” (compiled by Koji Yonekura and Tadashi Kajita) is published online, matching Japanese common names to scientific names.

The procedure for translating is as follows.

• Look up the scientific name from the Ukrainian name. For species listed in the Red Book, use the official list; for others, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and similar databases can be used.
• Look up the Japanese common name from the scientific name. For plants, use YList; for animals, use field guides or species-name databases.
• If there are two or more Japanese common names, or none at all, include the scientific name alongside.

Names Easily Confused

Kalyna Is Seiyō-Kanboku, a Viburnum

Kalyna’s scientific name is Viburnum opulus, a tree in the genus Viburnum. YList gives the Japanese common name of the basic European variety (var. opulus) as seiyō-kanboku (also called yōshu-kanboku), while what is called “kanboku” in Japan is a different variety of the same species. Japan’s “gamazumi” is a different species, Viburnum dilatatum, so translating kalyna as “gamazumi” would point to a different tree in the same genus.

Leleka Is a General Term for Storks

The Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (IEU) entry on “Stork” gives three Ukrainian names — leleka, buzko and chornohuz — and states that Ukraine has mainly two species: the white shubashikō (white stork, Ciconia ciconia), found across the country, and the black nabekō (black stork, Ciconia nigra), found in the Carpathian Mountains and Polisia. Japan’s kōnotori is a different species, Ciconia boyciana, called leleka dalekoskhidnyi (“Far Eastern leleka”) in Ukrainian.

Kashtan Is Not Always a Chestnut

Kashtan is used both for the edible chestnut tree (kashtan yistivnyi, Castanea sativa) and for the horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum). The Ukrainian name for the horse chestnut is hirkokashtan zvychainyi (“bitter chestnut”), also called kashtan kinskyi (“horse’s chestnut”). Before translating a street-tree “kashtan” as a chestnut tree, you need to check which tree is meant.

There Are Two Species of Soloveiko

According to IEU, Ukraine has a western soloveiko (Luscinia megarhynchos) and an eastern soloveiko (Luscinia luscinia); the former is found mainly in Crimea, as well as Transcarpathia, Polisia and the western forest-steppe, while the latter is found throughout Ukraine. Their Japanese common names are sayonakidori and yabusayonakidori, respectively. In most cases, it cannot be determined which one a poem’s “soloveiko” refers to.

What the Red Book Tells You

According to the Red Book Law, the Red Book is an “official state document” listing rare and endangered species found in Ukraine’s territory, continental shelf and exclusive economic zone. The Cabinet is required to formally publish the Red Book at least once every 10 years. Listed species are divided into the following seven categories according to their status (Article 13).

• znykli (extinct)
• znykli v pryrodi (extinct in the wild)
• znykaiuchi (critically endangered)
• vrazlyvi (vulnerable)
• ridkisni (rare)
• neotsineni (not evaluated)
• nedostatno vidomi (data deficient)

The current list was approved in 2021 by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, based on a June 10, 2020 decision of the National Commission on the Red Book of Ukraine (Національна комісія з питань Червоної книги України). Animals are listed under Order No. 29 of January 19 (687 species), and plants and fungi under Order No. 111 of February 15 (857 species). The animal list replaces the previous one, approved by an order of June 17, 2009.

IEU’s entry on “Stork” (first published in the 1993 encyclopedia) states that “the stork has become an endangered species and is protected by law,” but the 2021 Red Book list includes only the black nabekō, not the white shubashikō. The encyclopedia’s account and the year of the current list need to be read separately. Ukraine’s nature reserves are introduced in our article on the uncultivated steppe and 28 lakes preserved in Ukraine’s nature reserves.

Is There a “National Flower” or “National Bird” in Law?

Article 20 of the Constitution of Ukraine designates three national symbols: the national flag, the state emblem, and the national anthem. Flowers and birds are not included. These three symbols are introduced in our article on the blue-and-yellow flag, the trident state emblem, and the anthem whose lyrics were fixed in 2003.

Some writings describe kalyna or the stork as Ukraine’s “national flower” or “national bird,” but this does not correspond to any constitutional designation as a symbol. IEU records the folk belief that a house on which a stork has nested will live in peace and prosperity, and the stork’s role as a helper of people in folk tales. Soloveiko is often sung about in folk songs, and the word soloveiko is also said to be used as a term of endearment for someone close. Barvinok (lesser periwinkle) is described as playing a large role in folklore, Easter, and wedding rituals. These are cultural roles, distinct from any legal designation.

How to Write These Names When Translating

At first mention, giving the transliteration alongside the Ukrainian word and the scientific name lets readers check it themselves — for example, “kalyna (калина, scientific name Viburnum opulus, Japanese common name seiyō-kanboku).” When a poem or song does not let you pin down the exact species, it is best to stay with what can be known, such as “a tree of the genus Viburnum” or “a stork species.”

Going through a Russian dictionary can lead to a different word. The white stork is белый аист in Russian, and the bobak marmot is also called baibak — different words from the Ukrainian leleka and babak. The differences between the two languages are introduced in our article on where Ukrainian and Russian differ.