Why Are There Only Two Words for Tea in the World?

“茶”在全球其他國家的語言中有兩種說法，一種與英語tea類似，另一種則是與cha類似的chay。你想過同樣是“茶”，為什么有兩種不同的叫法嗎？

With a few minor exceptions， there are really only two ways to say “tea” in the world. One is like the English term—té in Spanish and tee in Afrikaans are two examples. The other is some variation of cha， like chay in Hindi.

Both versions come from China. How they spread around the world offers a clear picture of how globalization worked before “globalization” was a term anybody used. The words that sound like “cha” spread across land， along the Silk Road. The “tea”-like phrasings spread over water， by Dutch traders bringing the novel leaves back to Europe.

The term cha is Sinitic， meaning it is common to many varieties of Chinese. It began in China and made its way through central Asia， eventually becoming “chay” in Persian. That is no doubt due to the trade routes of the Silk Road， along which， according to a discovery， tea was traded over 2，000 years ago. This form spread beyond Persia， becoming chay in Urdu， shay in Arabic， and chay in Russian. It even made its way to Sub-Saharan Africa， where it became chai in Swahili. The Japanese and South Korean terms for tea are also based on the Chinese cha， though those languages likely adopted the word even before its westward spread into Persia.

關(guān)于茶，為何世界上會有兩種叫法？

除了少數(shù)微不足道的例外，全世界“茶”的說法實際上只有兩種。一種與英語說法tea類似，比如西班牙語中的té和阿非利卡語（南非官方語之一）中的tee。另一種是cha的某種變化形式，如印地語中的chay。

這兩種說法都來自中國。看看它們是如何在全世界傳播的，可以讓人們清楚地了解在一個詞語被廣泛使用之前，“全球化”是如何形成的。發(fā)音與“cha”類似的詞語是沿著絲綢之路通過陸上傳播的。發(fā)音與“tea”類似的詞語則是由荷蘭商人通過海上傳播的，這些商人將這種新奇的葉子帶回了歐洲。

Cha是中國文化中的說法，它是很多漢語方言所共同使用的。它來自中國，穿越中亞，最終在波斯語中變?yōu)椤癱hay”。這無疑是源于絲綢之路的貿(mào)易線路。根據(jù)一項發(fā)現(xiàn)，兩千多年前人們就沿這條線路進行茶葉交易了。這個說法的傳播范圍超過了波斯，在烏爾都語中成為chay，在阿拉伯語中成為shay，在俄語中成為chay。它甚至傳到了撒哈拉以南的非洲，在斯瓦希利語中成為chai。日語和韓語中茶的說法也以cha為基礎(chǔ)，雖然這些語言很可能在這種說法向西傳到波斯前就被采用了。

But that doesnt account for “tea”. The Chinese character for tea， is pronounced differently by different varieties of Chinese， though it is written the same in them all. In todays Mandarin， it is “chá”. But in the Minnan variety of Chinese， spoken in the coastal province of Fujian， the character is pronounced “te”. The key word here is “coastal”.

The “te” form used in coastal-Chinese languages spread to Europe via the Dutch， who became the primary traders of tea between Europe and Asia in the 17th century. The main Dutch ports in east Asia were in Fujian and Taiwan， both places where people used the “te” pronunciation. The Dutch East India Companys expansive tea importation into Europe gave us the French “thé”， the German “Tee”， and the English “tea”.

Yet the Dutch were not the first to Asia. That honor belongs to the Portuguese. And the Portuguese traded not through Fujian but Macao， where “chá” is used. Thats why Portugal is a pink dot in a sea of blue.

Few languages have their own ways of talking about tea. These languages are generally in places where tea grows naturally， which led locals to develop their own ways to refer to it. In Burmese， for example， tea leaves are “l(fā)akphak”.

但這還是無法解釋“tea”的說法。“茶”這個字在漢語不同方言中寫法一樣，但讀音不同。在今天的普通話中，它讀作“chá”。但在沿海省份福建所使用的閩南語中，這個字讀作“te”。這里的關(guān)鍵詞是“沿海”。

在中國沿海地區(qū)方言中使用的“te”的說法經(jīng)由荷蘭人傳到了歐洲，荷蘭人在17世紀成為歐洲和亞洲之間主要的茶商。荷蘭人在東亞主要使用的港口位于福建和臺灣，這兩個地方的人都使用“te”的讀音。荷蘭東印度公司向歐洲大規(guī)模進口茶葉，這讓人們有了法語中的“thé”、德語中的“Tee”和英語中的“tea”。

但最先到達亞洲的并不是荷蘭人，而是葡萄牙人。葡萄牙人進行貿(mào)易并不是通過福建，而是通過澳門，澳門使用的是chá這個說法。這就是為什么葡萄牙語中的“茶”在歐洲是一個例外。

在談到茶的時候，少數(shù)語言有自己的說法。這些語言通常是在茶葉自然生長的地方，這令當?shù)厝诵纬闪怂麄冏约旱年P(guān)于茶的說法。例如，在緬甸語中，茶葉的說法是“l(fā)akphak”。

Word Study

version /'v???n/ 'v???n/ n. （從不同角度的）說法，描述

She gave us her version of what had happened that day.

novel /'n?vl/ adj. 新穎的;與眾不同的;珍奇的

account for 說明（原因、理由等）

importation /'?mp??'te??n/ n.? 進口;進口貨

There is a ban on the importation of ivory.