英语“茶”话溯源

On Origin of English Word“Tea”

通过文献检索和文本分析发现,英语tea是来自汉语的借词,亚欧主流语言中的"茶"的读音滥觞于广东话cha和厦门话te两种发音,是语言接触后的语言借用现象,其含义具有扩大化和隐喻化的嬗变。茶和茶文化通过荷兰和葡萄牙进入英国后,品茗成为时尚,同时也融入了英国语言和英国文学,英国茶承载了丰富的隐喻文化内涵,形成了具有英国特色的茶文化,从而有别于汉语和汉文化中茶的含义。

Literature search and text analysis reveal that English word ＂tea＂ is actually borrowed from Chinese language, and its pronunciation in mainstream languages of Asia and Europe can be traced back to the pronunciation of ＂cha＂ in Cantoness dialect and that of ＂te＂ in Xiamen dialect in China. This is a phenomenon of borrowing taking place in the course of language contact, and the meaning of ＂tea＂ is extended and metaphorized in the process. When tea and tea culture went into Great Britain via Holland and Portugal, drinking tea soon became a fashion and the practice found its way into English language and literature, too. Gradually, tea carried rich cultural connotation of metaphor and the tea culture with British characteristics formed in Great Britain, which is different from the implication of the ＂tea＂ in Chinese language and the Han culture.