Origin of the word 'broth'

In the South, when mentioning broth, people immediately think of the phrase "hu tieu nuoc leo". This type of broth has nothing to do with bun nuoc leo, because the way of preparing the two types is different: broth (in hu tieu) is the type of broth made from meat + spices; while broth (in bun nuoc leo in Soc Trang) is water boiled with linh fish sauce, shrimp and snakehead fish meat + spices.

In the Central region, there is also a type called "nuoc leo", but it is completely different. This is "a Hue dipping sauce, made from sweet soy sauce, chili powder, fish sauce, pork bone broth, sugar, MSG, lard, dried onions and garlic, roasted peanuts and sesame, pork liver, with a rich sweet, nutty, spicy flavor, used to dip some Hue specialties ( Great Vietnamese Dictionary by Nguyen Nhu Y, 1999).

In the Nom script, there are some lèo words with different meanings, for example lèo (料, 撩,𫃼.繚) means a string to tie a sail or a paper kite (to control); lèo (僚): a string to hang a prize; lèo (了, 𦫼) in lèo heo (desolate, deserted, sad); lèo (尞, 繚) in lèo nám (carved lines on the edge of a cabinet, edge of a bed); or lèo means not encountering obstacles (straight lèo). There are also lèo teo (sparse); lèo lá (not simple); théo lèo (gossip); lèo nheo (not neat); The most notable is the word lèo (膫) in "nước lèo", which appeared around the 19th century, meaning "meat broth" ( Help reading Nom and Sino-Vietnamese by Anthony Tran Van Kiem (2004).

There is a view that "nuoc leo" is an ancient word that first appeared in the North, and is no longer used today, but this word was introduced to the South and is still used today.

Unfortunately, the above statement is extremely subjective, without any evidence to show that broth first appeared in the North, and was later replaced by broth .

In our opinion, the broth associated with Hu Tieu was brought to Southern Vietnam by the Chinese, starting from Quang Nam province and then gradually spreading throughout the South ( Tri Dien (池田), p.18). In the Cantonese Hu Tieu dish, there is a type of broth called Lo Chap (滷汁). Chap (汁) is water, liquid; and Lo (滷) is the main broth (ie the main sauce, combined with spices), used many times to boil or braise (simmer) bones and meat. The Vietnamese have mispronounced the word Lo (滷, lou5) in Cantonese as Leo , to refer to the type of broth with spices, poured into Hu Tieu, vermicelli or noodles...

In English-speaking countries, broth is called stock, broth, soup base ; in French-speaking countries, fond and bouillon ; in Japanese, dashi (出汁), in Korean, mitgukmul (밑국물). Although the preparation and ingredients are somewhat different, these types of broth are used in a similar way to fondo (Spain); fondi di cucina (Italy) or fond or stok - the types of broth that the Turks based on the words fond (French) and stock (English). In Romania, people call broth fondul , sometimes supă de oase or supă de bază , and they even use the English word stock .