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The etymology of the word salmon
The Latin scientific name keta comes from Russian, and the Russian word кета comes from the Oroqen language keta. In addition, in the northern branches of Manchu-Tungusic languages such as Ewenki, Evan, and Nekidal, the word Keta means "salmon".

The Chinese scientific name salmon comes from Hezhe language. Tongjiang City belongs to Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province, and is located below Li Qinde Town in the lower reaches of Heilongjiang Province. Hezhe people who call themselves "Hezhe people" are called Dawayimaha. The Hezhe people who call themselves "Qileng" and live above Li Qinde Town in the upper reaches of Heilongjiang and along the Wusuli River are called Dao Yimaha. Hezhe people in the lower reaches of Songhua River, written by Ling Chunsheng, a scholar in the Republic of China, is recorded as dau imaha under the item of "salmon". In Hezhe language, Imaha means "fish", so Dawai Maha, Dawai Maha or Daouyimaha are "Dawa fish", "Dawa fish" or "Dawu fish". The languages such as Nanai, Araques, Ude and Oklo, which belong to the Manchu-Tungusic language family together with the Hezhe language in China, are called Dawa language. It goes without saying that Imaha behind Dawa has already expressed the meaning of this fish. So the original meaning of dawa-daw-dau is "salmon", and the name of this fish is dawa-daw-dau. Dawa-Daw-dau is transliterated as "da" and imaha is transliterated as "maha" in Chinese. In order to explain that "Maha" is a kind of fish, the word "fish" is added after it, so the Chinese word "salmon" comes from Hezhe language in Heilongjiang Province.

In addition, some local folk names are "Dafaha Fish" and "Dafaha Fish", which are derived from Dafaha in Manchu, and Dafaha in Manchu is "Salmon".

(Excerpted from China Language 1999)