coffee = wine or from Kaffa
^caffe (Italian)
^
kahveh (Turkish)
^
qahwah (Arabic)
The origin of coffee is debated but one thread begins in the Kaffa region in Ethiopia where the plant originated. Kaffa became qahwah in Arabic and then travelled via Turkish kahveh into Italian caffe and other European languages.
Other similar Arabic words are qahwa which means 'wine' or 'dark stuff' and comes from the word qahiya which means 'to have no appetite', so these may also be the original source.
Coffee was brought from Ethiopia to Yemen in Arabia and was grown there for export in the 1500s. One major ports in Yemen was the town of Mocha on the Red Sea which came to mean 'fine coffee'. Later it took on the meaning of coffee and chocolate. The crop became valuable enough that there was a decree against exporting live plants. Coffee houses became hugely popular throughout Europe in the 1600s, starting in Venice and then quickly spreading throughout the continent. The Portuguese began coffee plantations in Brazil to enter the market and by the mid-1800s they were growing about 40% of the world's coffee.
Café is the French and Spanish word for coffee and gives us the words for the place to get one, a cafe or a cafeteria. Capuccino comes from the an Italian word for 'hood' or 'something that covers the head' in Italian, similar origin to our word for cap and other words related to the 'head' such as capital. The drink is named after the color of the hoods worn by capuchin monks and nuns. Caffè latte or latte is simply 'milk coffee' in Italian just as café au lait is in French. Espresso comes from the Italian esprimere 'pressed out' because of the stream pressure used to prepare it. We get our words pressure, express and press from the same Latin word exprimere 'to press out'.
Related Words
-
Translated
- café French
- caffe Italian
- café Spanish
- kaffee German
References:
- OED
- http://espressocoffee.quora.com/Confusion-over-the-etymology-of-the-word-Coffee