Etymology Dictionary

TEA,  an infusion made from the dried leaves of the tea-tree, a shrub found in China and Japan.  (Chinese.)   Formerly pronounced tay [tai], just as sea was called say; it rimes with obey, Pope, Rape of the Lock, iii. 8, and with away, id. i. 62.   'I did send for a cup of tee (a China drink) of which I never had drank before;' Pepys, Diary, Sept. 28, 1660.   Oddly spelt cha in Blount's Gloss., ed. 1674, with a reference to Hist. of China, fol. 19; also chau, Dampier's Voyages, an. 1687 (R.)   Prof. Douglas writes:  'The E. word tea is derived from the Amoy pronunciation of the name of the plant, which is té.   In the other parts of the empire it is called ch’a, ts’a, &c.; see Williams, Chinese Dict., p. 5'   Cf. té, tea; Chinese Dict. of the Amoy Vernacular, by Rev. C. Douglas, 1873, p. 481.   This accounts for the Port. cha, tea (whence E. cha), and Ital. cia, tea.   Cf. F thé, G. thee, pronounced as tea was in Pope's time.   So also Malay téh, tea; Marsden, Malay Dict. p. 97. [†]

ADDENDA

On the introduction of tea, see D’Israeli, Curiosities of Literature, vol. ii. 319 (Warne's ed.).   He remarks that 'the word cha is the Port. term for tea retained to this day, which they borrowed from the Japanese,' &c.