--- In cybalist@..., "S.Kalyanaraman" <kalyan97@...> wrote:
> Any thoughts on the origins of the word, ca, ca_, ca_i, cha_ for
tea?
> Chinese?
As Mandarin originated in northern China, Chinese cha, "tea" (also
cha in Korean and I think Japanese), would have adopted it from a
southern dialect when the Chinese began conquering the place many
centuries ago. Southern China was populated by people speaking
Austroasiatic and Thai languages. I suspect that cha and all its
cognates originated in some ancient Austroasiatic dialects, given
that
most of SE Asia was originally populated by that language group, and
the epicenter of the word and early cultivation of tea seems to be
from this area. Only in historic times did the Burmese and Thais
migrate into the southern parts of those countries, and Munda
suggests that Austronesian-speaking peoples once inhabited much of
eastern India. Cognates of "tea" seem, according to the words listed
here, to have derived from an Austronesian source. The ancient and
medieval kingdom of Champa in southern Vietnam was Austronesian-
speaking. Some still live in the highlands. They may have been
seaborne colonists. We might suspect that Austronesian words for tea
came from them.