To inform and entertain you, I am pleased to unveil a series of articles called Tea Teasers.
In this article, I will discuss some Tea and Vocabulary.
In the 1400s, the Portuguese introduced tea from China into the European market.
These are some of the words which entered our language as a result of the tea trade: 1.
Mandarin: Originally the title of a Chinese Court official, today the term is often used to describe a high level civil servant.
His word comes from Portuguese MANDAR (to order) 2.
Pidgin English: Pidgin is a corrupted form of Chinese expression to do business; it probably started out as a trade language.
3.
Chow: this term is used to describe food today.
The Chow is also one of the oldest recognizable dog breeds.
Drawings from early China show hunting dogs similar in appearance, thought to have evolved from the wolf.
4.
Cash: from the Portuguese CAIXA which means money box.
Cash as a currency was used in China, and referred for centuries for to a unit for copper coinage and banknote equivalents.
5.
Caddy: from the Chinese, this is a standard Tea Trade container.
The word is believed to be derived from catty, the Chinese pound.
They were originally made of porcelain (typically blue and white, but evolved to materials like wood, pewter, tortoise-shell, brass, copper and even silver.
Finally, the material most frequently used was wood.
Hope you will follow the blog on a regular basis, as I bring you short, interesting articles about the wonderful world of tea.
All tea lovers share a love of tea history and trivia! Please visit the website and join in a blog that interests you - [http://www.
teadrinkersblog.
com] .
Until next time, remember...
Tea is not a drink, it's an event!
In this article, I will discuss some Tea and Vocabulary.
In the 1400s, the Portuguese introduced tea from China into the European market.
These are some of the words which entered our language as a result of the tea trade: 1.
Mandarin: Originally the title of a Chinese Court official, today the term is often used to describe a high level civil servant.
His word comes from Portuguese MANDAR (to order) 2.
Pidgin English: Pidgin is a corrupted form of Chinese expression to do business; it probably started out as a trade language.
3.
Chow: this term is used to describe food today.
The Chow is also one of the oldest recognizable dog breeds.
Drawings from early China show hunting dogs similar in appearance, thought to have evolved from the wolf.
4.
Cash: from the Portuguese CAIXA which means money box.
Cash as a currency was used in China, and referred for centuries for to a unit for copper coinage and banknote equivalents.
5.
Caddy: from the Chinese, this is a standard Tea Trade container.
The word is believed to be derived from catty, the Chinese pound.
They were originally made of porcelain (typically blue and white, but evolved to materials like wood, pewter, tortoise-shell, brass, copper and even silver.
Finally, the material most frequently used was wood.
Hope you will follow the blog on a regular basis, as I bring you short, interesting articles about the wonderful world of tea.
All tea lovers share a love of tea history and trivia! Please visit the website and join in a blog that interests you - [http://www.
teadrinkersblog.
com] .
Until next time, remember...
Tea is not a drink, it's an event!