2i8 COFFEE 



intoxicating liquors. In all cases, the preparation was bitter or pun- 

 gent in quality. It was without doubt in reference to these pun- 

 gent wines that the Arabians became familiar with the term; and, 

 upon acquiring a taste for coffee which was, and still is, prepared by 

 them as a thick, black, and bitter beverage, they merely transferred 

 to their new preparation the name of their formerly common and 

 bitter drink. 



It is significant that the original form Kadu, or any subsequent 

 derivative, is fundamentally the term applied to a quality, not a 

 specific plant or beverage. Hence, it is natural that it should keep 

 pace with the migration of peoples and the tongues associated with or 

 influenced by the Dravldlan languages. One finds that the word 

 Kahwah of Arabia and the term Kava of Polynesia are closely 

 related, having been derived from the same root; and that both refer 

 to a bitter or pungent beverage. To sum up : 



Dravldlan term .... Kadu =:fierce, cutting, sharp, 

 I pungent. 



Sanskrit term Katu = sharp, acrid, pun- 



I gent. 



Hindu term Karwa = sharp, acrid, bitter, 



pungent. 



Arabic ''Qahwah or Kahwah'' Polynesian ''kawa or Kamakawa,' 



The European languages derived the name "Coifee" from the 

 Turkish form Kahveh or Quahwe about 1600. Originating from that 

 term, one finds the Italian cajfe; the Spanish, Portuguese, and French 

 cafe; the early German Koffee and Coffee and the later German 

 Kaffee; the Danish and Swedish Kaffe; the Dutch Koffie; and the 

 Russian Kophe, Kophei, or Kofe, and the Polish Kawas. 



English literature of the sixteenth century, including the Early 

 Modern or Tudor English, reveals the forms caoua and chaoua. 

 The Middle Modern English variations of the next century were 

 coffdj caffa^ capha, caphe, cauphe, cohpie, coffi, coffe, coffey, coffy, 

 and rarely coffee. The Current English of the eighteenth century 



