The two maps presented here show the spread of the words for tea and coffee around the world.
For tea you can see the word originated from the old Chinese ‘rla,’ which no one knows how to pronounce. This then divided into cha and te variations of the word you find today.
Coffee Map created by reddit user targumures
For coffee it comes from the Arabic ‘qahwa’ which then slowly transfer to Persia then Turkey and then to Europe and eventually evolved into the many European language varieties of coffee we have today. These in turn were spread to Africa and Asia via colonial empires.
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bas says
July 24, 2016 at 9:07 pmShouldn’t kaffie be koffie?
MoverDB says
July 24, 2016 at 9:08 pmYes, I believe you’re correct and this was an error.
Harry Janssen says
July 25, 2016 at 6:14 amYes, In Dutch it’s not kaffie but koffie.
Husarz says
July 25, 2016 at 12:13 amI was told that the Polish word for tea – “Herbata” is derived from Yerba Mate, which is why it is not a variant of Chai or Te.
Renato says
July 25, 2016 at 2:16 pmIn Portuguese it’s “chá” and it comes from the Japanese.
Gorik says
January 25, 2017 at 2:09 amThat user is a moron and should’ve researched a little more. Despite being the 1st Europeans to come in contact with Chá/Tea they aren’t even noted in map. It was the Portuguese princess made English queen that took it to England. Also Port has the only/oldest tea plantations in Europe! Do your homework!