Sakana

Sakana (サカナ) is the common modern term for fish. Interestingly, though, this originally meant something different: food to go with sake (rice wine). In fact, the "saka" in "sakana" is from "sake." The "na" means "a side dish," to the current word for fish actually means "a side dish to go with sake." This presumably happened because grilled fish was a popular accompaniment to sake. Incidentally, the older term for fish, which is still used at times today, is "uo," or in an older spelling, "uwo."

Kabocha

Kabocha (カボチャ) is the word for the pumpkin, and it has an interesting origin. The word comes from the name of a country, Cambodia. Though this is certain, nobody is quite sure of why this is so. One common explanation is that when a Portuguese first brought pumpkins to Japan in the 16th century, the people receiving them mistakenly thought the ship had come from Cambodia. In fact, the pumpkin is native to Central America.