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.

　　中文版

　　Tea来源于闽南语(te)？

　　China、silk、tai chi、tofu……要说缘起于中国的英文词语，你是不是想起了这几个词？

　　不过，身处晋江的你知道吗？也有一些英文词语的源头居然是咱们的闽南话！

　　由于地处沿海，闽南地区自有史以来便与外界有着广泛的交流往来。海上丝绸之路时期，泉州被誉为“东方第一大港”，很多陶瓷、丝绸等通过泉州港(古称“刺桐港”)运往世界各地；明清时期，不少闽南人下南洋谋生，闽南文化也跟着走向世界……随着时间的推进，慢慢产生了许多有趣的文化现象，这其中就包括闽南语与英语之间有趣的语言交流。

　　"Tea"-"Te"

　　"Tea"-“茶”

　　不少人可能知道，“tea”(茶)这个词来源于中国，毕竟我国是茶叶的故乡，世界上其他地方的饮茶习惯、种植茶叶的习惯都是直接或间接地从中国传过去的。

　　但这个词进入英语时间太久，构词能力极强， teaspoon、teabag、high tea、 low tea……许多人都看不出来茶是个中文词。而且“tea”的读音和中文的“茶”(chá)也相去甚远。

　　实际上，“Tea”这个词借的是闽南语中茶的发音“te”。

　　华侨大学文学院教授王建设告诉我们，要说部分由闽南语演变成的英文单词，“茶”这个词最具代表性。

　　在国外，“茶”有两种读法，一是读作“cha”,二是读作“tea”。这里，王教授分享了一个小知识：一般来说，单词辅音是“z”或“c”的，那么读法便是由北方传入，读音大致与“cha”雷同；而读作“d”或“t”的，词语来源便是从闽南话演变而成。

　　在闽南语中，“茶”读作“te”。从英语“tea”一词的读法来看，显而易见其发音与闽南语的“te”类似。王建设说，之所以受此影响，还得归功于海上丝绸之路，当时，茶和丝绸、瓷器是海上贸易火热的商品，不少外国人通过买卖交易茶叶学到了闽南人对于“茶”即“te”的读法，久而久之，便演变成了英文单词“tea”。

　　"Ketchup" - "Kuetsap"

　　“Ketchup”-“膎汁”

　　西餐中常见的番茄酱“Ketchup”，也是来源于闽南语“膎汁”。

　　“膎汁”在闽南语中读作“kuetsap”，想必即使不会说闽南语的人也能体会到其浓浓的闽式腔调。

　　王建设告诉我们，“膎汁”在闽南语里特指腌制好的水产品酱料。它在17世纪由闽南地区的船民带到了当时的英国殖民地马来半岛，再传入英国。早在18世纪时，“Ketchup”就已是英国老百姓家里的日常调料。

　　实际上，因为福建的天时地利，闽南语历经辗转漂流，很大程度上影响了许多周边国家，尤其是南洋地区，即现在的东南亚一带。膎汁是闽南人的传统调味料，闽南人把它带到了东南亚，马来西亚人称之为“kicap”，随后这个词转口到英语中成了“ketchup”或者“catchup”。

　　ketchup因地取材，在各地采用了不同的原料制造，在英语国家中主要原料改用番茄，因此原来的“膎汁”变成了“番茄酱”，与一开始所说的“膎汁”并不搭边，因此许多人也没想到这个词来源于闽南语。

　　王建设告诉记者，这是经过百年演变后的结果。

　　Voices from foreigners

　　画外音

　　对于闽南语与英语之间有趣的联系，在晋江的外国人是怎么看呢？

　　昨日，记者采访了多位在晋江工作的外国人，他们中大多数人表示“have no idea(不清楚)”，但是对这个话题很感兴趣。

　　当记者介绍tea一词是从闽南语“te”转化的时候，来自荷兰的Micheal马上表示赞同，因为在荷兰语中，茶的发音是“thee”，与闽南语发音高度相似。

　　来自比利时的Florent告诉记者，在他小的时候，家人非常喜欢喝茶，总是买各种各样的进口茶。他翻查茶罐外包装时，经常会发现一个地名：Fujian。由此，他对福建这个盛产名茶的地方产生了强烈的好奇。来到中国后，他多次到福建茶庄买茶作为伴手礼带给比利时的家人，大家都很喜欢。他猜想，应该有许多种类茶的英语发音都是由闽南语发音转化来的。

　　本期策划：秦娴

　　本期执行：许洋洋 李玲玲 秦越 许春

　　本期翻译：许剑辉 柯招榕 黄雅君 吴景森