# Etymology of word qahwa



## happykotoba

Hi at all!
I am new in this forum and I would enquiry on this arabic word: qahwa.
Does arab in alphabet too, belong to IE roots only?
thanks


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## origumi

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=coffee
[url]http://espressocoffee.quora.com/Confusion-over-the-etymology-of-the-word-Coffee
[/URL]


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## Lugubert

If I understand your question correctly, Wikipedia gives you an answer.


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## happykotoba

Hi origumi, thanks for answer....and what about the verb qahiya?Do the roots of this word lead to an exact meaning?
thanks


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## origumi

Until someone with good Arabic language history knowledge shows up, I can quote the explanation that appears in many sources:


> The first reference to "coffee" in the English language, in the form _chaoua_, dates to 1598. In English and other European languages, *coffee *derives from the Ottoman Turkish *kahve*, via the Italian *caffè*. The Turkish word in turn was borrowed from the Arabic: قهوة‎, *qahwah*. Arab lexicographers maintain that *qahwah *originally referred to a type of wine, and gave its etymology, in turn, to the verb *qahiya*,  signifying "to have no appetite",  since this beverage was thought to  dull one's hunger. Several  alternative etymologies exist that hold that  the Arab form may disguise a  loanword from an Ethiopian or African  source, suggesting *Kaffa*, the highland in southwestern Ethiopia as one,  since the plant is indigenous to that area. However, the term used in that region for the berry and plant is _bunn_, the native name in Shoa being _būn_.


http://studyinforeigncountries.blogspot.co.il/2011/07/etymology.html


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## happykotoba

Already seen....Thanks of your aid, but the matter was the roots of word qahiya:what do q-h-y mean?
Hope be clear.


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## happykotoba

Maybe I should post in Arabic language forum?Shouldn't I?


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## akhooha

happykotoba said:


> already seen....thanks of your aid, but the matter was the roots of word qahiya:what do q-h-y mean?
> hope be clear


origumi already gave you this information:


> Arab lexicographers maintain that *qahwah *originally referred to a type of wine, and gave its etymology, in turn, to the verb *qahiya*,  signifying "to have no appetite",  since this beverage was thought to  dull one's hunger.


The dictionary Lisan al-Arab, page 3767 agrees with this.

View attachment 13534


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## happykotoba

Gentle Akoouha,thanks for your help....
To be understandable...I would like to know why the word "qahi" which means "coffee" but also "do not have appetite" has these real meaning,why the roots of these words have this meaning....I would debate on the roots of this word which probably are "q-i" or "q-w-m"...
I don't study Arab.... I am only a bit curious


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## entangledbank

Not q-i or q-w-m but q-h-w, as in _qahwah_. The etymology given above says it begins with a noun _qahwah_, a kind of wine; that is, this word has no known further Semitic etymology and is therefore probably a loanword from some other language (possibly one that had better vintages than North Arabian chardonnay  ) Given a noun _qahwah_, it looks like it comes from a root q-h-w with an added feminine/singulative suffix _-ah_. The medial _h_ can't disappear in the history of Arabic, but the final _w_ can appear as _y_. I'm not sure, but I suspect the newly-created verb went _qahiwa_ > _qahiya_ under the influence of the middle vowel _i_, or more likely was created as _qahiya_ to begin with because that's what happened to earlier _-iwa_ verbs. The noun _qahwah_ "kind of wine" therefore regularly gave rise to the verb _qahiya_ "act like (drinking) qahwah on". That seems a simple enough semantic change.


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## happykotoba

Thank you very much Entangledbank!!!
This is what I wanted....Can I look for this explanation anywhere?
However thanks a lot...


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## ancalimon

I don't know much about Arabic but could there be a relationship between the word keyif (Arabic loan in Turkish meaning joy, pleasure, high spirits) and kahve?


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## akhooha

ancalimon said:


> I don't know much about Arabic but could there be a relationship between the word keyif (Arabic loan in Turkish meaning joy, pleasure, high spirits) and kahve?


No relationship at all.


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## entangledbank

This whole [f] business, including the province of Kaffa, is spurious. The [f] came into the word in European languages, which rendered Turkish _kahve_ as something phonetically close like [kafe], and the [f] spread from there. The [v] in Turkish represents Arabic [w]; the Arabic just has [w]. Changing [hv] to [f] is phonetically plausible; it is highly implausible (and a dirty big coincidence to boot) that Arabic [hw] could could have come from earlier [f]. The Ethopian province of Kaffa might be in vaguely the right place for the origin of the plant, but the [f] actually ignores the etymology, not supports it.


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## berndf

entangledbank said:


> This whole [f] business, including the province of Kaffa, is spurious. The [f] came into the word in European languages, which rendered Turkish _kahve_ as something phonetically close like [kafe], and the [f] spread from there. The [v] in Turkish represents Arabic [w]; the Arabic just has [w]. Changing [hv] to [f] is phonetically plausible; it is highly implausible (and a dirty big coincidence to boot) that Arabic [hw] could could have come from earlier [f]. The Ethopian province of Kaffa might be in vaguely the right place for the origin of the plant, but the [f] actually ignores the etymology, not supports it.


It is not clear, if the European versions with <f> or <ff> are derived from _kahveh_, _Kaffa _or a blend/confusion of the two.

I agree with you that it is improbable that _Kaffa_ plays any etymological role within Turkish and Arabic.


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