قهوة
Arabic
Etymology
Derived by medieval philologists from the root ق ه ي (q-h-y), relating to satiety, with the meaning of "wine", explained by Ibn Manẓūr that "it was named thus since it surfeits the drinker of it and takes away his desire". The "coffee" sense is ultimately of disputed origin. According to Watkins, the original meaning could have been "dark stuff," related to Hebrew כָּהָה (“dull, weak, dim”), Aramaic ܩܗܐ (qəhā, “to be(come) blunt, to be(come) dull”), Arabic قَهِيَ (qahiya, “to be/become weak, lack hunger”).[1]
Originally meaning a "brew", the word referred to mulled wine, and later to coffee, possibly since intoxicants were traditionally mixed and served hot in a similar manner to coffee, featuring many overlapping spices and the hospitality etiquette of modern-day Arab coffee culture. Culturally other words were re-purposed from wine to coffee with the advent of the traditionalist Muslim prohibition on intoxication. Other synonyms for "to brew" utilize the same trilateral roots as wine and intoxicants; see خ م ر (ḵ-m-r), meaning to cover over, presumably with hot water, to let sit, to steep, to let ferment or to give suitable time for food to be prepared for use.
Alternatively, some sources trace the term back to the Omotic Kaffa, the name of the region in Ethiopia where coffee was first grown; however, the word used to mean wine in earlier Arabic, more than half a millennium before this Kingdom existed, which makes any associations dubious.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /qah.wa/
- (Egyptian) IPA(key): /ʔah.wa/
- (Hijazi, Gulf Arabic) IPA(key): /ɡah.wa/
- (Najdi) IPA(key): /ɡha.wa/
- (Levantine) IPA(key): /ʔahwɛ/
- (Hebron cities and villages) IPA(key): /ɡahwɛ/
- (Palestinian Fellahi) IPA(key): /kahwɛ/
- (Moroccan) IPA(key): /qah.wa/
Noun
قَهْوَة • (qahwa) f (plural قَهَوَات (qahawāt) or قَهَاوٍ (qahāwin)) (usually uncountable)
- (obsolete) wine
- c. 800, إبراهيم بن المهدي, فما مزه قهوة قرقف شمولا تروق براووقها:
- فما مزه قهوة قرقف شمولا تروق براووقها
- What he slurps of wine from a bowl, it wholly gets strained by its sifter.
-
- coffee (the drink)
- (colloquial) coffee shop, café
Declension
| Singular | singular triptote in ـَة (-a) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Indefinite | Definite | Construct | |
| Informal | قَهْوَة qahwa | الْقَهْوَة al-qahwa | قَهْوَة qahwat |
| Nominative | قَهْوَةٌ qahwatun | الْقَهْوَةُ al-qahwatu | قَهْوَةُ qahwatu |
| Accusative | قَهْوَةً qahwatan | الْقَهْوَةَ al-qahwata | قَهْوَةَ qahwata |
| Genitive | قَهْوَةٍ qahwatin | الْقَهْوَةِ al-qahwati | قَهْوَةِ qahwati |
| Dual | Indefinite | Definite | Construct |
| Informal | قَهْوَتَيْن qahwatayn | الْقَهْوَتَيْن al-qahwatayn | قَهْوَتَيْ qahwatay |
| Nominative | قَهْوَتَانِ qahwatāni | الْقَهْوَتَانِ al-qahwatāni | قَهْوَتَا qahwatā |
| Accusative | قَهْوَتَيْنِ qahwatayni | الْقَهْوَتَيْنِ al-qahwatayni | قَهْوَتَيْ qahwatay |
| Genitive | قَهْوَتَيْنِ qahwatayni | الْقَهْوَتَيْنِ al-qahwatayni | قَهْوَتَيْ qahwatay |
| Plural | sound feminine plural; broken plural diptote in ـٍ (-in) | ||
| Indefinite | Definite | Construct | |
| Informal | قَهَوَات; قَهَاوِي qahawāt; qahāwī | الْقَهَوَات; الْقَهَاوِي al-qahawāt; al-qahāwī | قَهَوَات; قَهَاوِي qahawāt; qahāwī |
| Nominative | قَهَوَاتٌ; قَهَاوٍ qahawātun; qahāwin | الْقَهَوَاتُ; الْقَهَاوِي al-qahawātu; al-qahāwī | قَهَوَاتُ; قَهَاوِي qahawātu; qahāwī |
| Accusative | قَهَوَاتٍ; قَهَاوِيَ qahawātin; qahāwiya | الْقَهَوَاتِ; الْقَهَاوِيَ al-qahawāti; al-qahāwiya | قَهَوَاتِ; قَهَاوِيَ qahawāti; qahāwiya |
| Genitive | قَهَوَاتٍ; قَهَاوٍ qahawātin; qahāwin | الْقَهَوَاتِ; الْقَهَاوِي al-qahawāti; al-qahāwī | قَهَوَاتِ; قَهَاوِي qahawāti; qahāwī |
Derived terms
- مَقْهًى m (maqhan)
Related terms
- أَقْهَى (ʾaqhā)
Descendants
- → Azerbaijani: qəhvə
- → Bashkir: ҡәһүә (qähüä)
- → Chagatai: قهوه
- Uyghur: قەھۋە (qehwe)
- Uzbek: qahva
- → French: caoua, cahoua, kahoua, kawa
- → Hebrew: קַהְוָה (kahvá)
- → Lishana Deni: קהוא (qahwa)
- → Malay: kahwa
- → Maranao: kahawa
- → Tausug: kahawa
- → Yakan: kahawa
- → Ottoman Turkish: قهوه (kahve) (see there for further descendants)
- → Pashto: قهوه (qahwa)
- → Persian: قهوه (qahve)
- Tajik: қаҳва (qahva)
- → Gujarati: કહવા (kahvā)
- → Hindustani:
- Hindi: क़हवा (qahvā)
- Urdu: قہوہ (qahvā)
- → Punjabi: قَہْوَہ (qahvah)
- → Sindhi: قَهِوو (qahivo)
- → Swahili: kahawa
- → Tatar: каһвә (qahwä)
See also
- بُنّ m (bunn)
- شَاي m (šāy)
- نَبِيذ m (nabīḏ)
References
- Freytag, Georg (1835), “قهوة”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum (in Latin), volume 3, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 511
- Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860), “قهوة”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc (in French), volume 2, Paris: Maisonneuve et Cie, page 829
- Wehr, Hans (1979), “قهوة”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN, page 929–930
- “coffee”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
Further reading
- “coffee”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
Gulf Arabic
Alternative forms
- گهوة
Etymology
From Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa).
Pronunciation
- (Kuwaiti Gulf Arabic) IPA(key): /ˈɡəh.wə/
- (Ghawa syndrome) IPA(key): /ˈɡha.wa/
Noun
قهوة • (gəhwə) f (plural قهاوي (gəhawi))
- coffee shop, a traditional social gathering places where men gather.
- (rare) café
- Synonym: كافيه (kafe)
Noun
قهوة • (gəhwə) f (plural قهوات (gəhwat))
- coffee
Hijazi Arabic
Etymology
From Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɡah.wa/
Noun
قهوة • (gahwa) f (plural قهوات (gahwāt))
- coffee
- (rare) coffee shop, café
See also
- بُن m (bunn, “coffee beans”)
Moroccan Arabic
Etymology
From Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /qah.wa/
Audio (file)
Noun
قهوة • (qahwa) f (plural قهوات (qahwāt))
- coffee
Noun
قهوة • (qahwa) f (plural قهاوي (qhāwi))
- coffee shop, café
South Levantine Arabic
Etymology
From Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʔah.we/, [ˈʔah.we]
- IPA(key): /ʔah.wa/, [ˈʔah.wa]
Audio (Bethlehem) (file)
Noun
قهوة • (ʔahwe) f (plural قهاوي (ʔahāwi))
- coffee
- café, coffee shop, coffeehouse
- Synonym: مقهى (maʔha)
See also
- بن (binn, “coffee beans”)
- قهوة مرة (ʔahwe murra, “unsweetened coffee”, literally “bitter coffee”)
- قهوة سادة (ʔahwe sāda, “coffee without milk and sugar”, literally “plain coffee”)