Re: [tied] Re: Ca_i, tea

On Fri, 12 Oct 2001 07:52:32 +0200, "Piotr Gasiorowski"
<gpiotr@...> wrote:

>There were basically two migration routes of the "tea" word:
>
>(1) From northern China, mainly by land (except across the sea to Japan), giving the "chai set" in Russian, Mongolian, Farsi, etc. (Mandarin cha 'tea', chaye 'tea-leaves').
>
>(2) From the trade centres of southeast China (Fujian) and the islands (Taiwan), mainly by sea, giving the "tea set" (te: 'tea' in the local Min dialects) all over coastal South Asia. The Dutch were indeed responsible for carrying the word to Europe.
>
>In the 16th/17th c. the British first heard of a herb called <chaa>, and I think <cha> still occurs in Dublin slang.

I think that must be a third set (the "cha set"), ariving by sea
through the Portuguese (Port. <chá>).