قهوة

Arabic

فنجان قهوة

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/
- (Egypt) IPA^(key): /ʔah.wa/
- (Hijazi, Gulf) 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/
- (Morocco) IPA^(key): /qah.wa/

Noun

قَهْوَة • (qahwa) f (plural قَهَوَات (qahawāt) or قَهَاوٍ (qahāwin)) (usually uncountable)

coffee (the drink)
(colloquial) coffee shop, café
(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.
(obsolete) any psychotropic brew (e.g. qāt, as well as wine or coffee)

Declension

Declension of noun **قَهْوَة** (qahwa)
singular	singular triptote in ـَة (-a)
singular	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)
plural	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 (ʔaqhā)

Descendants

→ Adyghe: къэхьэо (qɛḥɛwo)
→ Azerbaijani: qəhvə
→ Bashkir: ҡәһүә (qəhwə)
→ Chagatai: قهوه
- Uyghur: قەھۋە (qehwe)
- Uzbek: qahva
→ French: caoua, cahoua, kahoua, kawa
→ Ge'ez: ቃሕዋ (ḳaḥwa)
→ Hebrew: קַהְוָה (kahvá)
→ Japanese: カフワ (kafuwa)
→ Lishana Deni: קהוא (qahwa)
→ Malay: kahwa
- Indonesian: kahwa
- → Maranao: kahawa
- → Tausug: kahawa
- → Yakan: kahawa
→ Kabardian: къэхьэуэ (qɛḥɛwɛ)
→ Ottoman Turkish: قهوه (kahve) (see there for further descendants)
→ Pashto: قهوه (qahwa)
→ Classical Persian: قَهْوَه (qahwa)
- Tajik: қаҳва (qahva)
- → Gujarati: કહવા (kahvā)
- → Hindustani:
  Hindi: क़हवा (qahvā)
  Urdu: قَہْوَہ (qahva)
- → Punjabi: قَہْوَہ (qahvah)
- → Sindhi: قَهِوو (qahivo)
→ Swahili: kahawa
→ Tatar: каһвә (qahwä)

References

De Sacy, Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de (1826) Chrestomathie arabe, ou, extraits de divers écrivains arabes, tant en prose qu'en vers, avec une traduction française et des notes, à l'usage des élèves de l'École royale et spéciale des langues orientales vivantes, volume 1, page 462 Nr. 40
Freytag, Georg (1835) “قهوة”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[1] (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^[2] (in French), volume 2, Paris: Maisonneuve et C^ie, 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, pages 929–930