soja= the soybean plant, a soybean: from Dutch soja " soy sauce , soybean," from Chinese "su/Shu" 菽 thence to Japanese shōyu "soy sauce," from Chinese 醬油 jiang-you ), literally " oil sauce ," or from Cantonese shî-yaū (豉油) from shî " fermented soybean " + yóu "oil, grease ." soya=