33 Responses to “The Word For Tea Around The World”  

1. 1 capstan on August 29, 2006 said:

   romania – ceai

   Reply
2. 2 Tess Grey on August 29, 2006 said:

   You’ve inspired me to do some research on whether or not the ancient Greeks and Romans had a word for tea proper. I’ll have a look.

   Also–love your new colour scheme–very cheerful!

   Reply
3. 3 The Simple Leaf on August 29, 2006 said:

   capstan: Thanks – your word has been added.

   Tess: I’m looking forward to what you come up with. And thanks for the compliment.

   Incidentally (and this has little to do with my post), the word “tea bag” was first recorded in 1940. Seems awfully late, don’t you think? The source for this nugget of information is the online etymology dictionary.

   Btw, are any of you having problems with wordpress marking things as spam that aren’t spam? Tess – your comment (and my reply) were both marked as spam so I had to go in and “de-spam” them. Strange – I wonder if it’s just me, or if this is a temporary glitch in their spam filter.

   Reply
4. 4 Tess Grey on August 31, 2006 said:

   Re: Greek/Latin words for tea–

   As far as I can tell, tea proper wasn’t known very well, or possibly at all, to the ancient Greeks and Romans. They drank tisanes–primarily mints and camomiles, it seems, along with other herbal remedies–but I can’t find any references to tea. I’m curious now, though, as I know they had access to all sorts of Eastern luxury goods, including silks, spices, etc. Perhaps there just wasn’t a demand for it? Or, perhaps, they considered it just another tisane and it therefore had a generic name I can’t track down. I’ll be sure to ask one of my old Classics professors when next I drop them a line.

   Re: “spam” comments–
   I have this trouble if somebody links in the body of their comment, which is no great shock and is most likely a good thing. Haven’t had to moderate many others, though. Hopefull it’s just a temporary thing for you.

   Reply
5. 5 The Simple Leaf on August 31, 2006 said:

   I think you’re right – I don’t think the ancient Greeks had much contact with the Chinese.

   I found this comparative analysis of early China and Greece that *may* provide some insight.

   http://www.amazon.com/Way-Word-Science-Medicine-Greece/dp/0300101600/

   You’re right about the links in comments. I’ll have to go despam this one now!

   Reply
6. 6 Kozonithy on September 1, 2006 said:

   In Hungary: tea

   Reply
7. 7 Ernesto G, Vitetti on September 5, 2006 said:

   You’ve left out Italian : té
   I really enjoyed the above page ( while drinking tea too right now )
   all the best,
   Ernesto

   Reply
8. 8 The Simple Leaf on September 5, 2006 said:

   Hello Ernesto,

   Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate the comment.

   I think you may have missed Italian…it’s right under Hungarian (and above Icelandic.

   Enjoy your té!

   Reply
9. 9 sulz on September 6, 2006 said:

   french: thé

   Reply
10. 10 The Simple Leaf on September 6, 2006 said:

    Can’t believe I missed that one. Thanks!

    Reply
11. 11 Arlen on September 28, 2006 said:

    German tea should be capitalised; ie. `Tee’.
    In Russian, it’s чай (pronounced `chai’).

    Reply
12. 12 shirin on September 29, 2006 said:

    persian:chay

    Reply
13. 13 sulz on November 28, 2006 said:

    portuguese: chá

    Reply
14. 14 Gazzimoto on March 22, 2007 said:

    I often say Tea… I Love Tea. Really great to know how Tea is said in multiple languages.

    Reply
15. 15 Trey Winston on October 12, 2007 said:

    In the Scandinavian languages (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish), the word for tea is simply “te” [teh].

    Reply
16. 16 isabelle on October 13, 2007 said:

    in luxembourgish:

    Téi

    Reply
17. 17 Brad on November 7, 2007 said:

    In Thai it’s ชา “chah” (just like in many other Asian languages.

    Reply
18. 18 Mirka on April 6, 2008 said:

    Slovak language – Čaj

    Reply
19. 19 Gorazd on April 15, 2008 said:

    Macedonian – чај (pronounced: chai)

    Reply
20. 20 stefania on August 11, 2008 said:

    Greek – Tsai

    Reply
21. 21 Es on August 20, 2008 said:

    Korean & Japanese – Cha

    Reply
22. 22 Jesse on November 6, 2008 said:

    Zulu: itiye

    Reply
23. 23 Dom on November 6, 2008 said:

    Wolof: achai (pron: uh-chuy)

    Reply
24. 24 bobby on November 25, 2008 said:

    Foochow = ta

    Reply
25. 25 anne on March 25, 2009 said:

    hebrew = תה (pronounced te)

    Reply
26. 26 Vivian on May 26, 2009 said:

    Arabic – Chai

    Reply
27. 27 Shabeel on December 11, 2009 said:

    Malayalam – Chaya

    Reply
28. 28 Ярослав Карасев on January 13, 2010 said:

    ИМХО, не стоит обольщатся по этому поводу.

    Reply
29. 29 Олег on February 13, 2010 said:

    Люблю посты в таком духе! Большое спасибо

    Reply
30. 30 Tad on March 8, 2010 said:

    This is why I read blog.thesimpleleaf.com. Insightful posys.

    Reply

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