The various "tea" words come from related
words in different Chinese languages:
Mandarin cha(-ye) --> Hindi cai,
Russian c^aj (and similar words in Turkish, Mongolian, etc.)
Fukien te: --> Tamil tey, Malay teh
--> Dutch thee, German Tee, English tea (sometimes rhyming with "say" in the
18th century), also Polish herbata < herba thea, etc.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2001 6:29 PM
Subject: [tied] Ca_i, tea
Any thoughts on the origins of the word, ca, ca_, ca_i, cha_
for tea?
Chinese?