English
tea
Tea comes from Dutch thee, from Hokkien 茶 (tê), ultimately from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-la ‘leaf, tea’.
- Proto-Sino-Tibetanprehistoric (reconstructed)*s-la‘leaf’reconstructed
- Hokkienmodern茶tê
- Dutchc. 1500–presentthee
- Englishearliest quotation 1837tea
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Sino-Tibetanprehistoric (reconstructed)*s-la‘leaf’reconstructed
- Hokkienmodern茶tê
- Dutchc. 1500–presentthee
- Englishearliest quotation 1837tea
Earliest quotation: 1837, Benjamin Disraeli, Benjamin Disraeli Letters: 1835-1837: “I dined yesterday at | three on mutton chops…”
The story
First appears c. 1655, in the English translation Álvaro Semedo’s writings. Introduced to English and other Western European languages by the Dutch East India Company, who sourced their tea in Amoy; compare Malay teh along the same trade route.
Linked words
through Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-la ‘leaf, tea’
through Hokkien 茶
Today it means
noun The tea plant (Camellia sinensis); (countable) a variety of this plant.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-la / tea