< Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan

Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/s-la

This Proto-Sino-Tibetan entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Sino-Tibetan

Etymology
Camellia sinensis, the species from which tea is nowadays usually extracted.
Sonchus oleraceus, one of the bitter taste plants that 荼 referred to.
  • Proto-Sino-Tibetan: ?
    • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *s-la (Matisoff, STEDT)

Cognate with *lap (“leaf”), *lep ~ ljap (“flat, thin, flat object”); see there for more cognates.

This root is the eventual source of the words for "tea" in most non-Sino-Tibetan languages of the world, mostly borrowed from Chinese 茶. Two Chinese sources of borrowing are usually distinguished:

  1. the affricativised varieties (e.g. Beijing Mandarin, Guangzhou Cantonese): which pronounce 茶 with an affricate initial /t͡sʰ, ʈ͡ʂʰ/.

    → English: chai
    Korean: 차 (cha, “cha”)
    Japanese: 茶 (ちゃ, cha)
    Vietnamese: trà, chè

  2. the plosive varieties (e.g. Min Nan) /t/.

    → English: tea
    Korean: 다 (da, “da”)
    Japanese: 茶 (だ, da; た ta)

The Chinese word might have originally been a loan from Loloish (Tibeto-Burman) *la ("leaf, tea"), as tea may have originated in Sichuan (historically Lolo-speaking area) (Sagart, 1999). Alternatively, Qiu (2000) suggests that it was a semantic extension from the root *la, which yielded 荼 (OC *rlaː, *ɦlja, *l'aː), the name of a bitter plant (Sonchus oleraceus).

Additionally, Schuessler (2007) also proposed an Austroasiatic origin for the Proto-Loloish word; as a similar-shaped etymon exists in Austroasiatic: *sla (ibid.) or *slaʔ (Sidwell & Rau, 2015); compare also Proto-Mon-Khmer *slaʔ (“leaf”) (Shorto, 2006: #230), (Modern Mon သၠ (hlaʔ, “leaf”), Khmer ស្លា (slaa, “areca palm”), ស្លឹក (slǝk, “leaf, sheet”), Vietnamese lá (“leaf”).

More at etymology of tea on Wikipedia.

Noun

*s-la

  1. leaf
  2. tea
  3. flat object

Descendants
  • Old Chinese: 荼 /*rlaː, laː, ɦlja/ (ZS), /*lˤra, lˤa, l̥a/ (B-S; unlisted, theoretical) (“bitter taste vegetable; weed; white flower; poison, harm; tea”)
    • Middle Chinese: 荼 /ɖɣa, ʑia, duo/, 茶 (ɖˠa) /ɖɣa/
      • Chinese:
        Mandarin:
        Beijing: /ʈ͡ʂʰa³⁵/
        Central Plains: /t͡sʰa²⁴/, /ʈ͡ʂʰa⁴²/
        Dungan: ца (ca) /t͡sʰaː²⁴/
        Jiaoliao: /ʈ͡ʂʰa⁴²/
        Jilu: /ʈ͡ʂʰa⁴²/, /t͡sʰɑ⁴⁵/
        Lanyin: /ʈ͡ʂʰa⁵³/, /t͡sʰa⁵¹/
        Lower Yangtze: /ʈ͡ʂʰa⁵⁵/, /ʈ͡ʂʰɑ²⁴/
        Northeastern: /ʈ͡ʂʰa²⁴/
        Southwestern:
        Chengdu: /t͡sʰa³¹/
        Guiyang: /t͡sʰa²¹/
        Kunming: /ʈ͡ʂʰa̠³¹/
        Wuhan: /t͡sʰa²¹³/
        Sichuanese: 茶 (ca2), /t͡sʰa²¹/
        Standard: 茶 (chá), /ʈ͡ʂʰa³⁵/
        Cantonese:
        Guangzhou: 茶 (caa4), /t͡sʰɑː²¹/
        Hong Kong: /t͡sʰa²¹/
        Nanning: /t͡sʰa²¹/
        Taishanese: 茶 (ca3), /t͡sʰa²²/
        Gan:
        Nanchang: /t͡sʰɑ²⁴/
        Hakka:
        Sixian: 茶 (chhà), /t͡sʰa¹¹/
        Taoyuan: /t͡sʰɑ¹¹/
        Huizhou: /t͡sʰa⁴⁴/, /t͡sɔ⁴⁴/
        Jin: /t͡sʰa¹¹/, /t͡sɑ¹³/, /t͡sʰa³¹/
        Min:
        Min Bei:
        Jian'ou: 茶 (dâ), /ta³³/
        Min Dong:
        Fuzhounese: 茶 (dà), /ta⁵³/
        Min Nan:
        Hainanese: /ʔdɛ³¹/
        Hokkien:
        Amoy: 茶 (tê), /te²⁴/
        Taiwanese: 茶 (tê), /te²⁴/
        Zhuangzhou: 茶 (têe), /tɛ¹³/
        Teochew: 茶 (dê5), /te⁵⁵/
        Wu:
        Hangzhounese: /d͡zɑ²¹³/
        Shanghainese: 茶 (zo3), /z̻o²³/
        Suzhounese: /zo¹³/
        Wenzhounese: /d͡zo³¹/
        Xiang:
        Changsha: /t͡sa¹³/
        Xiangtan: /d͡zɒ¹²/
      • → Japanese: 茶 (cha), [t͡ɕʲa̠]}
      • → Korean: 차 (cha), [t͡ɕʰa]
      • → Tibetan: ཇ (ja, “tea”)
  • Lolo-Burmese:
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