この単語、ベトナムレストランに行けばまず必ず目に入る単語。サンドイッチのbánh mìにももちろん使うし、phoの乾麺にも使う。まったくもって掴みどころのない語。
なんでちょっと真面目に調べた。
In Vietnamese, the term bánh (Hanoi: [ɓaʲŋ̟˧˥] or Saigon: [ɓan˧˥], Chữ Nôm: 餅) translates loosely as "cake" or "bread", but refers to a wide variety of prepared foods that can easily be eaten by hands or chopsticks.[1] With the addition of qualifying adjectives, bánh refers to a wide variety of sweet or savoury, distinct cakes, buns, pastries, sandwiches, and other food items, which may be cooked by steaming, baking, frying, deep-frying, or boiling. Foods made from wheat flour or rice flour are generally called bánh, but the term may also refer to certain varieties of noodle and fish cake dishes, such as bánh canh and bánh hỏi.
要するに米粉・小麦粉を使った食べ物の総称の様子。続く単語によって種類を示すらしい。続いてwiktionary
Etymology 1[edit]
Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 餅 (“flour-based food”, SV: bính). Cognate with Muong pẻng.
A folk etymology claims that bánh is a corruption of French pain. [1] However, this is clearly false as the word is attested in early Vietnamese texts such as Cư trần lạc đạo phú (居塵樂道賦, 13th century) and Phật thuyết đại báo phụ mẫu ân trọng kinh (佛說大報父母恩重經, 12th century), which were published long before French contact with Vietnam.
語源はなんと「餅」。ただ都市伝説的な語源にフランス語の"pain"（パン）からきてる、というのがあるらしいけどこれは誤り。フランス植民地化以前の書籍に記載があるという理由で。
Pronunciation[edit]
今までずーっとこの語、なんで日本だと「バイン」とカナが振られるのか不思議でしょうがなかった。北と南で発音が違うのが理由。アメリカのベトナム民はもちろん（ほぼ）南なんで、「バン」しか聞いたことなかったからな。
