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Tea if by sea, cha if by land: Why the world only has two words for tea

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281–290 of 338 posts

Re: Tea if by sea, cha if by land: Why the world only has two words for tea

#281
post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see where Tolkien got his inspiration for Hobbit meals...

He's actually missing out elevenses and brunch.

Damn, forgot about brunch. Too late to edit in now. I left out elevenses because that's really just a cup of tea and a rich tea or digestive. I feel you need a bit more than that for it to be classified as a proper meal.

Re: Tea if by sea, cha if by land: Why the world only has two words for tea

#283

Wrong. Herbata if Slav or Commonwealth.

Comments like this are what the internet is all about! AFAIK Yugoslavs call tea "čaj" (pronounced... chai!). I have no idea about other Slavs. And if by Commonwealth you mean the British one, I think the biggest member state is India, where "chai" is also the word.

Re: Tea if by sea, cha if by land: Why the world only has two words for tea

#285

In modern Taiwanese Min Nan, "tê" sounds more like "day" than "tea". Maybe it sounded different in the Min Nan of Fujian a few hundred years ago, or something was "lost in transcription" when the dutch wrote "thee".

I’m not sure how you got “day" out of it, the linked recording sounded (to me) more like "the", if you were trying to say the word "there" (but obviously without the "re").

My mums' native dialect is Teo Chiew, which is a variant of and falls under the Min Nan family of dialects (but can be quite different in many ways, a native speaker of one does not necessarily means mutual understanding of the others). And while similar, Teo Chiew uses a "dê” rather than "tê" for tea.

On another note, the area is also the origin of the "Gong Fu Cha" style tea ceremony. [1]

[1] https://www.kyarazen.com/chaozhou-gongfu-tea/

Re: Tea if by sea, cha if by land: Why the world only has two words for tea

#286
post #17

It can also refer to food like lunch or dinner which the danish school system did not prepare me for in their english lessons, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_(meal)#Tea_as_the_evening_...

Nor the American school system for me. ;)

Re: Tea if by sea, cha if by land: Why the world only has two words for tea

#287
post #116
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Londoner who moved north, it continually confuses me too. "What are you having for tea?" "Oh, err... just milk thanks"

In French, dejeuner, meaning literally breakfast, used to mean just that. But the nobility was used to getting up so late that dejeuner became lunch, diner became the evening meal, and they invented the 'petit dejeuner' to name the breakfast. In southern France and rural areas, dejeuner remained breakfast, dinner the mid-day meal, and souper the evening one. Miscommunication ensues :)

The word 'dîner' also meant breakfast!

Wiktionary says: dîner, From Old French disner, from Vulgar Latin *disiūnāre, from disieiūnāre, disjejūnāre (“to break the fast”)

Re: Tea if by sea, cha if by land: Why the world only has two words for tea

#288
post #283

Wrong. Herbata if Slav or Commonwealth.

Comments like this are what the internet is all about! AFAIK Yugoslavs call tea "čaj" (pronounced... chai!). I have no idea about other Slavs. And if by Commonwealth you mean the British one, I think the biggest member state is India, where "chai" is also the word.

I meant Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth:)

Re: Tea if by sea, cha if by land: Why the world only has two words for tea

#289
实际上这是两个字。茶和荼。 http://www.zdic.net/z/22/kx/8336.htm http://www.zdic.net/z/22/js/837C.htm

《正字通》引《魏了翁集》曰:茶之始,其字爲荼,如《春秋》齊荼、《漢志》荼陵之類。陸、顏諸人,雖已轉入茶音,未嘗輒攺字文。惟陸羽、盧仝以後,則遂易荼爲茶。

荼,普通话tú。现在楚地发音tǘ,往东南地区(闽越)变化,就变成了ti或者tie,再往东南亚地区很接近di或者die。

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