One day I was preparing a breakfast in the kitchen, made cups of tea, cut some slices of bread and took two eggs out of the fridge. After heating the frying pan with oil, I cracked open the eggs to fry them. My room mate, who woke up a little later than me, came into the kitchen and asked
'Fried egg for breakfast?'
'Yeah won't be long.'
After answering so, one question suddenly appeared in my mind.
In English it is called 'fried egg' because egg is cooked by frying. In Japanese, it is called 'fried eye' (Medamayaki) because it looks like eye. The way to express 'fried egg' is different between languages.
In Malay, it is called 'telur mata sapi', meaning 'cow's eye egg'. I looked at the fried egg being cooked in the frying pan before me, and agreed that the size and shape of egg yolk looks like cow's eye. Isn't 'cow's eye egg' more charming way of calling fried egg than 'fried eye'?

How about other languages? Are there other ways of expressing 'fried egg' apart from frying and eye?
Since then I have started to ask people how to say 'fried egg' in their mother tongue whenever I get a chance.

Fried egg

In Europe
In Britain it is called 'fried egg'. But in France it is simply called 'egg dish' (oeuf au plat). 'Boiled egg' and 'scrambled egg' are expressed by using the words 'boil' and 'mix'. Therefore it may imply that because fried egg is most common way of cooking the egg, it doesn't need a word to describe how it is cooked.
In Germany, it is called 'mirror egg' (spiegelei). In Hungary it is also 'mirror egg' (tukoutojast). If you go towards the north, it is also called 'mirror egg' in Denmark and Norway also (spejlaeg, speil egg). According to my German friend, they call it so because
'The surface looks smooth and shiny. '
This view, smooth and shiny, is same in much further south, Albania on the Mediterranean coast. In Albanian it is called 'glass egg'.
Just a 'fried egg', however, when it is called by such a nice name, it starts to have a special power.
In Italy, it is called 'cow's eye egg', having a same view with Malaysia.
It is called 'star-shaped egg' in Spain and Portugal. This is because when you cook fried egg, it will be star-shaped rather than perfect circle.
Back in Eastern Europe, in Romania fried egg is called just 'eye' (ochi). In Serbia it is called 'eye on egg'. It seems viewing fried egg as 'eye' is predominant in these areas.

In Asia
Let's cross Bosporus and enter Turkey. Here in Turkey egg is 'yumerta'. However 'fried egg' is 'sahanda', 'scrambled egg' is 'ciprma' and 'boiled egg' is 'kati', so the word egg (yumerta) does not appear. Where the word 'sahanda' from? Does it mean something apart from 'fried egg'? If someone speaks Turkish, I would like to ask you.
Further east, India in the Tamil region, it is called 'mutai poriyal', meaning 'fried egg'. This stays the same for Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar (badapumin bittora, dim vaji, ceq u jaw).
In Thailand and Laos, it is called 'star egg' (kai dow, khai dao). In Vietnamese it goes back to fried egg (trung chien) again and the same in Philippines (itlog prito).
Going towards south, it is called 'cow's eye egg' in Malaysia and Indonesia (telur mata sapi).

In China, it is also called 'fried egg' (jian dan). There is, however, another way of calling 'fried egg' which is 'he bao dan'. 'He bao dan' means 'purse egg' because yolk is firmly covered by egg white.

I hope Chicken year 2005 will be money-lucky year like 'purse egg' and be delightful as much as 'sunny-side up'!!

Best wishes for New Year 2005

Ayuho Uchida