| − | Originally from {{etyl|nan|en}} ([[w:POJ|POJ]]: tê, [[Chinese]]: [[茶]]), the word was brought to the west by the [[w:Dutch East India Company|Dutch East India Company]] with the spelling '''[[thee#Dutch|thee]]'''. Many Western languages have this pronunciation at the root of their words for tea. The word for tea in other Chinese dialects such as [[Mandarin]] ([[Pinyin]]: chá) and [[Cantonese]] (Yale: cha<sup>4</sup>) was exported as "[[chai]]" to many of the [[Indo-Iranian]] languages, as well as Russian and Arabic. | + | Originally from {{etyl|nan|en}} ([[w:POJ|POJ]]: tê, [[Chinese]]: [[茶]]), the word was brought to the west by the [[w:Dutch East India Company|Dutch East India Company]] with the spelling '''[[thee#Dutch|thee]]'''. This is the pronunciation of Cha by Hokkienese in the province of Fujian in China. Many Western languages have this pronunciation at the root of their words for tea. The word for tea in Mandarin (official language of China) is Cha and in other Chinese dialects such as Cantonese is Chai. This (Yale: cha<sup>4</sup>) was exported as "[[chai]]" to many of the [[Indo-Iranian]] languages, as well as Russian and Arabic. |
| | "The World Atlas of Language Structures Online" has a special chapter dedicated to the origin of the word for tea in different languages: [http://wals.info/feature/138] | | "The World Atlas of Language Structures Online" has a special chapter dedicated to the origin of the word for tea in different languages: [http://wals.info/feature/138] |
