Coffee – where does its name come from? Roasted and ground, or processed into a water-soluble powder, hot or cold, whitened or black, sweet or bitter – everyone likes it in a slightly different version. However, it is difficult to find someone who can start the day without a cup or mug of their favorite coffee. How did it happen that this drink conquered the whole world and where does its sonorous, distinctive name come from?
Where does coffee come from?
Coffee probably originated in Ethiopia, where it may have been consumed before the advent of our era. Although we do not know proven reports on how it was really discovered, after the distant past, as usual, we are left with legends. One of them says that a traveler traveling through Africa came across a herd of excited goats and, intrigued by the discovery, decided to taste the seeds that put them in this state. And that’s how he discovered coffee.
- https://www.upsideart.org/jak-znalezc-dobrego-podologa/
- https://www.art-macha.pl/najlepsza-bielizna-erotyczna-dla-puszystych-kobiet
- https://ebc.edu.pl/co-zrobic-gdy-lakier-hybrydowy-nie-wysycha/
Regardless of how the beneficial properties of coffee were discovered, we know that it was probably the Bedouins who popularized drinking this drink in the Arab culture, and around the 15th century it was already a well-known product in the trade. Initially treated as a dangerous drug and considered extremely harmful to health, it quickly cleared its name of these charges, became legal and soon began conquering the whole world.
When it began to conquer the palates of European connoisseurs, its intense flavor was made more familiar and accessible to our palate by experimenting with adding to it not only products such as sugar and milk, but also salt and pepper. At some point, coffee became so popular and popular that when it was scarce in Poland, people tried to replace it with roasted chicory, grain, acorns, and even broad beans.
Where does the name coffee come from?
There is no consensus among linguists as to where the word coffee actually came to our Polish language, but they propose several theories. Among the most popular of them, one should mention the origin of the Turkish word kahve, Arabic kahwa and Italian caffe. The Ethiopian Kingdom of Kaffa should not be overlooked, because perhaps it is to him that we owe not only the name, but also the possibility of starting the day with your favorite, aromatic coffee.
From Turkish kahve
Turkish seems to be the obvious lead. After all, it was the people who spoke this language who brought coffee to European lands and brewed it here, and then left their supplies withdrawing from Europe after trying to conquer it. Did they, along with the sacks of precious grain, also leave behind the name we use to this day? Unfortunately, we don’t really know.
From Arabic kahwa
There is a popular opinion among linguists that our name coffee comes from the Arabic word kahwa. Interestingly, kahwa did not originally have to mean coffee – probably the word also referred to wine, and this was probably its older, original meaning. Is it the dark, intense color and aroma that combine both of these drinks that caused the word kahwa, which is the name of the wine, to be used to refer to similar-looking coffee as well? This we can only guess.
From Italian caffe
Some are of the opinion that our Polish coffee comes from the Italian caffe, which over time was polonized to the form we use today. In practice, however, this would again mean that our coffee comes from the Arabic kahwa, because it is from this word that the Italian caffe was probably created. According to this theory, it was the Italians who first encountered the word kahwa and incorporated it into their language, and only then did we borrow it from the Italians.
From Ethiopian Kaffa
Kaffa was originally an independent Kingdom, existing since the 14th century. In 1897 it was conquered and became a province of Ethiopia, located in the south-west of the country, and remained so until 1998. Currently, this area is known as the Keffa Zone, belonging to the Region of Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of the South. What has always distinguished this area is the extremely fertile and fertile soil, ideal for coffee cultivation. Presumably, it was there that the wonderful properties of coffee were discovered for the first time – this drink was drunk in these regions as early as the first century BC. It is from these regions that some of the legends explaining the discovery of the energizing properties of caffeine contained in coffee also come from. In the version of the story told in these areas, however, coffee was discovered not by a traveler, but by a shepherd named Kaldi, who went in search of a lost herd of goats.But is the exact origin of the word coffee really that important? It turns out not. If we look at the name of the drink in different languages, we will discover that many of them use the same etymological pattern. So in Swahili we will order a drink called kahawa, in China we will ask for Kafei, and in Japan for Koohii. In Denmark we will drink Kaffe, in Greece Kafes, and in Thailand Gafae. So regardless of where the name coffee comes from and where you are currently staying – if you ask for it, there is a good chance that you will drink coffee.
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