Katsushika Hokusai Ehon Saishiki-tsū, 1848

National Diet Library, Japan

In Japanese, squid is written 烏賊.

烏 means crow.

賊 means to harm or attack.

In other words,

a creature that harms crows.

An old Chinese text

tells a curious tale.

A squid floats on the surface of the sea,

pretending to be dead.

A crow swoops down.

Just as it thinks

it has found a meal,

the squid wraps its long arms around the bird

and drags it beneath the waves.

Hence the name, 烏賊.

Does a squid really do such a thing?

No one knows.

But the story has been passed down

through the ages.

And what about the sound, ika?

Some say it comes from ikatsui,

a Japanese word meaning tough or imposing.

Others trace it to kō,

the internal shell found in certain squid.

Neither explanation is certain.

The characters kept a story.

The sound kept a mystery.

Incidentally, ikasama comes from 如何様,

a word meaning trickery or deception.

It has nothing to do with squid.

And that's part of the fun.