'Sushi' is Japanese for 'vinegared rice' — NOT raw fish. Modern sushi was Edo-period street food.
A Japanese dish consisting of small balls or rolls of vinegar-flavored cold cooked rice served with raw fish, vegetables, or egg.
From Japanese sushi (寿司 or 鮨), from su (酢, vinegar) + shi, a suffix related to sourness or a verbal form of the copula. The dish originated as narezushi (馴れ鮨) — fish preserved in fermented, heavily salted rice. In this original form the rice was discarded; only the fish was consumed. By the Muromachi period (1336–1573) the fermentation time was reduced and the rice eaten alongside the fish. The modern form, hayazushi and eventually nigirizushi — where vinegared rice is shaped by hand — developed in Edo (modern Tokyo) in the early 19th century as fast
Sushi does NOT mean 'raw fish.' It means 'vinegared rice.' The rice is the defining element, not the fish. Raw fish served without rice is 'sashimi' (刺身, 'pierced body'). The original sushi was a preservation technique from Southeast Asia: fish packed in fermented rice for months. When ready, the rice was thrown away and only the fish was eaten. Modern sushi — where you eat both the rice and the fish — was invented