Etymology
In Old Japanese, edible seaweed was generically called "me" (cf. wakame, arame) and the kanji such as "軍布" and "和布" were applied to transcribe the word. Especially, kombu was called hirome (from hiroi, wide) or ebisume (from ebisu). Sometime thereafter the names konfu and kofu appeared respectively in two editions of Iroha Jirui Shō in 12-13th century.
Over the origin of the name kombu various theories has been claimed to date, and the following two are dominant today.
One is that it originated from the On'yomi (Sino-Japanese reading) of the Chinese name 昆布 (kūnbù). The kanji itself already could be seen in Shoku Nihongi(797) in Japan, and furthermore trace back in China, as early as 3rd century, to the book Wupu Bencao (around 239). Li Shizhen wrote the following in his Bencao Gangmu(1596).
Come to think about it, Wupu Bencao says "綸布 (gūanbù), alias 昆布 (kūnbù)." Then, what is mentioned in the Erya as "(what is pronouced) 綸 resembles 綸. This is in the East China Sea" is kūnbù. The pronouciation of 綸 is 関 (gūan), meaning cord made by blue thread, and got corrupted to 昆 (kūn).
— Li Shizhen, Bencao Gangmu
However kūnbù in Chinese and kombu in Japanese are false friends. Since descriptions about kūnbù in Chinese documentaries are abstract and inconsistent, it's impossible to identify what seaweed it was exactly. For instance, Chen Cangqi(681-757) noted "kūnbù is produced in the South China Sea; its leave is like a hand and the size is as same as a silver grass and a reed, is of red purple; the thin part of leave is seaweed", which reminds of wakame, arame, kurome, kajime (Ecklonia cava) or something. Actually, at least in the time, kombu was not produced either in the East nor in the South China Sea. Moreover, Li Shizhen classified, following Zhang Yuxi, kūnbù and haidai (stands for kombu in Chinese) as different things and this classification has been continuing in China up to today.
The other one is that it originated from kompu standing for kombu in the Ainu language, . Kompu in Ainu quite resembles gūanbù or kūnbù in Chinese, and it's possible to assume one is a loanword from the other.
Read more about this topic: Kombu
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