The origin of names for tea.

Jul 14 2008

Posted by: 阿偉 in Languages

According to Chinese author Táng Lùyu (唐陸羽), who wrote the treatise on tea Chajing (茶經), the tea plant has several names. In Mandarin, tea can be called jiǎ, shè, míng, and chuǎn, in addition to the already-common name cha (一曰茶，二曰檟，三曰蔎，四曰茗，五曰荈). In the eighth century, the character tu (荼), which today describes the sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus) was used for a variety of bitter herbs, which included tea. A similar character, using the tree radical(梌) with an identitcal pronounciation appears in an early medical text, which is traditionally attributed to Shennong.

Today, the name for “tea” in many languages around the world derives from the character 茶, but a few languages also derive the pronounciation from the Minnan pronounciation of 荼, te.

In Russian and Turkish, tea is called чай and çay, respectively, with a similar pronounciation; in Arabic, the word is pronounced “shai,” indicating a derivation from cha. In Italian, Spanish and German, the words are tè, té, and Tee (again with similar pronounciation), indicating a derivation from tê. Incidentally, these derivations also shed light on the way in which tea reached other parts of the world. For example, Russians and Turks likely recieved their tea through overland trading routes based in Central or Northern China, and thus heard the “cha” pronounciation. Meanwhile, the English and Spanish traded in Southern China, and heard tea refered to as “tê”.

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