Showing posts with label arabic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arabic. Show all posts

coffee

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
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Translated
- café French
- caffe Italian
- café Spanish
- kaffee German

References:
- OED
- http://espressocoffee.quora.com/Confusion-over-the-etymology-of-the-word-Coffee

orange

orange = orange tree 
     ^
orange (Old French)
     ^
pomum de orenge (Latin)
     ^
narancia (Italian)
     ^
naranj (Arabic)
     ^
narang (Persian)
     ^
naranga-s (Sanskrit)

Loss of initial n- probably due to confusion with definite article (e.g. une narange, una narancia), but perhaps influenced by French or "gold." The name of the town of Orange in France (see Orangemen) perhaps was deformed by the name of the fruit. Orange juice is attested from 1723. 

The tree's original range probably was northern India. The Persian orange, grown widely in southern Europe after its introduction in Italy 11c., was bitter; sweet oranges were brought to Europe 15c. from India by Portuguese traders and quickly displaced the bitter variety, but only Modern Greek still seems to distinguish the bitter (nerantzi) from the sweet (portokali "Portuguese") orange. Portuguese, Spanish, Arab, and Dutch sailors planted citrus trees along trade routes to prevent scurvy. On his second voyage in 1493, Christopher Columbus brought the seeds of oranges, lemons and citrons to Haiti and the Caribbean. Introduced in Florida (along with lemons) in 1513 by Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. Introduced to Hawaii 1792.

Tangerines were originally called Tangerine oranges or 'oranges from Tangiers'. Other European names refer to them as Mandarines ('Chinese official') referencing their Chinese heritage.

Related Words
- apple (pomme)

Translated
- orange French
- arancio Italian
- naranja Spanish
- orange German

sugar

sugar = gravel 
     ^
sucre (French)
     ^
succarum (Latin)
     ^
sukkar (Arabic)
     ^
shakar (Persian)
     ^
sharkara (Sanskrit) 'gravel' or 'candied sugar'

Sugar comes from the French sucre and before that Latin succarum. Before that it was sukkar in Arabic and shakar in Persian. The Arabic word sukkar gives us the German zucker and Italian zucchero. It originates from Sanskrit sharkara where it's tied to gravel or grit because of it's texture. The ancient Greek word kroke for 'pebble' is related.

Honey was the original sweetener in Europe. Around 300 BC, Alexander the Great returned to Greece from his conquest of India with the first account of sugar cane. His Admiral Nearchos tasted the cane and noted that "Indian reeds that make honey without bees". The Arabs brought the crop to Europe around 800 when ruled Sicily and Spain. They began to cultivate sugar and within a few hundred years it became the dominant sweetener. Columbus brought cane cuttings with him on his voyage to the Americas. As the Spanish began conquer the Caribbean and South America in the 1500s, they began to grow it on large scale plantations and bring it back to Europe.

Related Words
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Translated
- sucre French
- zucchero Italian
- azúcar Spanish
- zucker German

References:
- OED
- NordZucker