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It might have arrived to India through Persia but it derives directly from (Northern) Chinese. 'Tea' also derives directly from Chinese but through another Chi
by NotPaidToPost 7y ago
It might have arrived to India through Persia but it derives directly from (Northern) Chinese.
'Tea' also derives directly from Chinese but through another Chinese dialect (Southern).
- thaumasiotes 7y agoYou're using "directly" to mean something mysterious. Tea brought to India by non-Chinese traders speaking non-Chinese languages was referred to by a non-Chinese name. That is not an example of direct contact with China. And as you'll see if you read the links posted variously through this subthread, the word for tea which English derived directly from contact with China (in very southerly Guangzhou) was "cha". That word was quickly replaced by "tea", derived from Dutch. The Dutch word was derived directly from China, but, as you note, from the language spoken in a different region.