Coffee is known to some as a black sludge, to others as the thing they need to get going in the morning. There are other often used phrases for it, like the black ichor of life, liquid energy, the day-starter and much more. But, as global coffee-lovers know, no matter where you are, asking for coffee is possible in almost any language. While Greeks may prefer a cold frappé, Austrians have dozen different coffees with strange names and Vietnamese add egg-yolk for an extra kick – the word coffee works everywhere in the world.
Coffee, Kafés, Kaffee or Ca phe?
Now, one could assume this is due to the widespread knowledge of English. After all, it is the most common language to learn in non-English speaking countries, due to its internationality. But looking even at just these three languages there is a surprising similarity for the simple word “coffee”, from the Greek “kafés”, the German “Kaffee” to the Vietnamese “ca phe”.
Coffee being a cognate, meaning a word that indicates a common root between two languages, could be an explanation. However Germany and Greece may be relatively close geographically, but their languages do not share the same roots, even going farther back. And Vietnamese is a completely different from either one. So why is the word for coffee so similar?
What is the Origin of Coffee?
Coffee of course, was not always as wide spread as to today. Originally coming from Ethiopia, and first roasted and grinded into a drink by Sufi Muslims in Yemen 15th century, it was called “qahwat al-bun” meaning “the wine of the bean”. Eventually it was shortened to “qahwat” and started its travel through the world over the next centuries.
Relatively speaking the word spread in a very short time, and therefore did not change much between languages. Mostly the pronunciation and spelling changed to fit the language. Coffee therefore is a loan word – a word taken from another language. In a similar way many languages have adopted the word “online” from English to describe a new concept, completely indescribable with an older vocabulary.
Happy National Coffee Day!
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