What is the Korean name for a "beech" tree?

ANSWER: 너도밤나무 

 The Korean word for "chestnut tree" is 밤나무, and the Korean word for a "beech" tree is 너도밤나무, which literally translates as "You are also a chestnut tree." Of course, a beech is not a chestnut tree, but the two trees are similar enough that they are sometimes confused, even though beechnuts are much smaller than chestnuts. Anyway, here is my translation of a story that Koreans use to explain the origin of the Korean name for a beech tree.

One day a passing monk sees a child and tells the child's father that the child is fated to be killed by a tiger. The shocked father asks the monk what he can do to save his child. The monk says that the father will have to save 1,000 people to change the child's fate. Realizing that it would be nearly impossible to save 1,000 people, the father asks the monk if there was anything else he can do. The monk tells the father that instead of saving 1,000 people, he can plant 1,000 chestnut trees, and that is what the father does.

Later when the tiger comes for the child, the father tells the tiger not to take his child because he has planted 1,000 chestnut trees. But, unfortunately, one of the trees has died, leaving only 999. 

Just as the tiger is getting ready to pounce on the child, a nearby tree says, "I am also a chestnut tree" (나도 밤나무다). Hearing this, the tiger leaves without killing the child. With tears of emotion flowing down his face, the father says to the tree, "Yes, you are also a chestnut tree" (그래, 너도 밤나무다).

By the way, there is also a small tree or shrub Koreans call 나도밤나무 (I am also a chestnut tree), which is different from a 너도밤나무 (You are also a chestnut tree). And there are other plants that Koreans have named using the 나도 (I also) prefix, which is a prefix that suggests the plants are similar but different than the names of the plants to which the prefix is attached. Below are just a few of them from my Korean-English dictionary:

Dong-a's Prime Korean-English Dictionary (1998)

  

Dong-a's Prime Korean-English Dictionary (1998)