Tea Originates from Minnan Dialect (Te)?

　　China, silk, tai chi, tofu...do all these words pop into your mind when speaking of the English vocabulary that has its origin in Chinese?

　　Yet, while you are living in Jinjiang, do you know there are also some English words that originated from Minnan (Southern Fujian) dialect?

　　Located in the coastal area, Minnan boasts a long history of extensive communication and exchange with the world. During the prosperous era of Maritime Silk Road, Quanzhou was the home of "the biggest port in the East" - Quanzhou Port (also known as "Citong Port"), through which huge quantities of porcelain, silk and so on were exported worldwide. Then in the Ming and Qing Dynasties a large number of Minnan people made their way to Southeast Asia for a better life, bringing along Minnan culture where they settled. Over time, lots of interesting cultural phenomena have come into being and among these is the amusing vocabulary evolution between Minnan dialect and English.

　　　"Tea"-"Te"

　　It's well known that the word tea originated in China. China is the home of tea, so the practices of drinking and planting tea spread to other regions of the world in direct or indirect ways.

　　The word tea has blended in English for such a long time, producing so many phrases like teaspoon, teabag, high tea, low tea, etc. No wonder it's hard to tell that tea is actually a Chinese word. In addition, tea's pronunciation is nowhere near its Chinese counterpart “茶”(chá).

　　In fact, the word tea borrows the pronunciation "te" from Minnan dialect.

　　Professor Wang Jianshe from College of Humanities of Huaqiao University says tea is the best example to represent those English words derived from Minnan dialect.

　　In foreign countries tea has two pronunciations, "cha" and "tea". Professor Wang says that in most cases words with consonants "z" and "c" probably come from the northern dialects, which sound like "cha", while words with consonants "d" and "t" are more likely to develop from Minnan dialect. Judging by tea's pronunciation in English, it is remarkably similar to "te" in Minnan dialect. Professor Wang adds that the phenomenon is largely caused by influence of the Maritime Silk Road. In the past tea, silk and porcelain were the most popular products in maritime trade. Thus, some foreigners learned the pronunciation "te" when they were doing business with Minnan people, and finally "te" became "tea" in English.

　　　"Ketchup" - "Kuetsap"

　　The word "ketchup" commonly seen in Western cuisine comes from "kuetsap" in Minnan dialect, which means the sauce made from pickled seafood.

　　Even a person who doesn't speak Minnan dialect can sense the strong Minnan accent in the word kuetsap.

　　Professor Wang points out kuetsap refers to a kind of sauce made from pickled seafood. In the 17th century the sauce travelled with Minnan fishermen to the Malay Peninsula, a then British colony, and arrived in Britain in the end. As early as the 18th century ketchup had become a daily flavoring among the British.

　　As a matter fact, because of Fujian's favorable climate and location, Minnan dialect, over years of circulating, has an extensive and deep impact in almost all the countries nearby, especially in Southeast Asia. Kuetsap, a traditional Minnan flavoring, was brought to Southeast Asia, where the Malays called it "kicap", and evolved into "ketchup" or "catsup" in English.

　　In different areas ketchup can be made accordingly with various local raw materials. As the main ingredient is changed to tomatoes in Britain, kuetsap becomes tomato ketchup, totally different from the original pickled seafood sauce. That's why few people know the word ketchup goes back to Minnan dialect.

　　Professor Wang comments it results from hundreds of years of gradual transformation.

　　　Voices from foreigners

　　As to the interesting relationship between English and Minnan dialect, what do the foreigners in Jinjiang think?

　　According to Jinjiang Economy News' interview, most of them say they have no idea, but they show a strong interest in the topic.

　　Michael from the Netherlands agrees that tea comes from "te", because in Dutch tea is pronounced "thee", strikingly similar to "te" in Minnan dialect.

　　Florent from Belgium says when he was young, his family would buy and drink all kinds of imported tea. While checking the packages, the word Fujian constantly came into his sight, so he became extremely curious about this place with a reputation for producing tea. Since he came to China, he has bought several times Fujian tea as gifts for his families in Belgium and everyone likes the tea. He guesses maybe there are many types of tea whose English pronunciations originated from Minnan dialect.