Tuesday, March 17, 2009

south of the border

cof * fee (kofe) n.

The word coffee comes from the Arabic qahwa
through its Turkish form qahveh. Although coffee
originated in or near Kaffa, in southwest Ethiopia
there's no evidence that the English word derives
from this. Interestingly, the Ethiopian word for
coffee is bunc, the only place in the world where
it isn't called something sounding like coffee.


painting by Jane B, an old friend on the west coast

And a BIG THANKS for the snail mail,
and you know who you are!

There's some going out today from here.



15 comments:

Unknown said...

Delightful painting by Jane B.! Thanks for sharing.

Slainte mhor agus a h-uile beannachd duibh
Good health and every good blessing to you!

tut-tut said...

Hope things are going well for you, cm

Kurt said...

In Portugal, ask for a café and you get a shot of espresso. Ask for cafe com leite, and you get a tiny bit of milk in your espresso. To really get coffee with milk, you have to ask for a galao, meaning a "gallon."

Anonymous said...

Hi C.M. Happy St.Paddy's Day!

That billboard reminds me of the ones I used to see, travelling through Georgia and the midwest. Of course, some had a "hidden" surprise for the lead-footed :(

And great song, to go along with the history lesson.

R.L. Bourges said...

I'll have you know, cm, that if you google 'bunc ethiopia coffee' right now, you get...your blogpost in first position! yayyyy!

Hygyeia - how funny is that as a brand name for coffee. But hold on: when the Parthenon was getting built, the goddess Hygeia, she ordered a course of treatment for a poor workman who had fallen off the scaffolding and he recovered. Want to bet whe order he drink bunc at libitum? :-)

Didn't know this song at all. Very cool.

A pleasant coffee day to you, cm, with or without Irish whiskey in it.

rlb

Reyjr said...

i love the trivia on coffee, haha.
Bunc!
All the countries I've been to (17 in all) call coffee as coffe, cafe, kopi, kape, or something else very similar!

tony said...

I always think of Turkey as the Spiritual Home of Coffee.....

Tess Kincaid said...

Why do I always crave a cuppa when I come over here?

Merle Sneed said...

A good cup of coffee sounds good in the evening. But I resist because I'm old and the consequences of coffee before bed are inevitable.

Coffee Messiah said...

nick: Thanks and hope all is well with you ; )

t & t: Thanks.

kurt: Is that like a spanish galleon?

subT: The badges still do that out here ; )

rlb: I could have used an IW yesterday ; )

reyjr: Amazing, isn't it? !

tony: It's hard not to, isn't it.

willow ; )

merle: We're right behind you, although up to about 5pm is OK ; )

Anonymous said...

Kurt is fascinating. Portugal sounds nice.

? said...

Haven't had a good cuppa in a while and thought I should stop over. I love the south of the border

Mark said...

Love the painting. Interesting how words originate. No surprise that in Kaffa, it is called by an unrelated word. In France they don't call fried potatoes French Fries.

Megan said...

I like that painting too. Hope all is well in Coffee-Land.

Coffee Messiah said...

y river: Hi ya and Thanks for popping over the seas ; )

mark: Language is so interesting, isn't it.

megan: Thanks.