Where does “tea” come from?
tea (Old Portuguese) comes from Latin tēla, from Old Dutch tegela, from Proto-Germanic *tigulā, from Proto-Germanic tigulǭ, from Latin tēgula, from Latin tegō, from Proto-Italic tegō, from Proto-Indo-European (s)teg- — to cover; pole, stick, beam.
Ancestry of “tea”, step by step
tea traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Latin tēla
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | tēla | web |
| 2 | Old Dutch | tegela | — |
| 3 | Proto-Germanic | *tigulā | — |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | tigulǭ | tile; brick |
| 5 | Latin | tēgula | a large, flat and heavy roof tile used in an overlapping formation with the curved and smaller imbrex |
| 6 | Latin | tegō | to cover; to clothe |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | tegō | cover |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)teg- | to cover; pole, stick, beam |