‘He turned down a star birthday bash to spend his big day serving cuppas at Manchester's Christie Hospital.’.‘When the last load was complete, we made cuppas for everyone using my mum's thoughtfully provided Emergency Tea-Making And Chocolate Biscuit Kit.’.‘Later on, they go over to Harold's place, where funereal choir music is playing as everyone marches in, white-faced, for cuppas.’.
‘When full, the 2ft 5in-high piece can serve 1,024 cuppas - enough to provide half-time sustenance for 93 football teams.’.‘Their sales of cups of tea have rocketed by around 500 per cent with more than 450 cuppas being sold nationwide, compared to an average of 90 cups a week sold before the film's release.’.cup of tea "what interests one" is by 1932, earlier used of persons (1908), the sense being "what is invigorating." Cup-bearer "attendant at a feast who conveys wine or other liquor to guests" is from early 15c. To be in one's cups "intoxicated" is from 1610s (Middle English had cup-shoten "drunk, drunken," mid-14c.). Sense of "suffering to be endured" (late 14c.) is a biblical image (Matthew xx.22, xxvi.39) on the notion of "something to be partaken of." Sense of "cup-shaped metal vessel offered as a prize in sport or games" is from 1640s. Meaning "part of a bra that holds a breast" is from 1938. 1400 sense of "quantity contained in a cup" is from late 14c. Used of any thing with the shape of a cup by c. The Late Latin word was borrowed throughout Germanic: Old Frisian kopp "cup, head," Middle Low German kopp "cup," Middle Dutch coppe, Dutch kopje "cup, head." German cognate Kopf now means exclusively "head" (compare French tête, from Latin testa "potsherd"). "small vessel used to contain liquids generally drinking vessel," Old English cuppe, Old Northumbrian copp, from Late Latin cuppa "cup" (source of Italian coppa, Spanish copa, Old French coupe "cup"), from Latin cupa "tub, cask, tun, barrel," which is thought to be cognate with Sanskrit kupah "hollow, pit, cave," Greek kype "gap, hole a kind of ship," Old Church Slavonic kupu, Lithuanian kaupas "heap," Old Norse hufr "ship's hull," Old English hyf "beehive." De Vaan writes that all probably are from "a non-IE loanword *kup- which was borrowed by and from many languages." Slang meaning "marijuana" (which sometimes was brewed in hot water) is attested from 1935, felt as obsolete by late 1960s. Meaning "afternoon meal at which tea is served" is from 1738.
Meanwhile, Russian chai, Persian cha, Greek tsai, Arabic shay, and Turkish çay all came overland from the Mandarin form.įirst known in Paris 1635, the practice of drinking tea was first introduced to England 1644. The modern English form, along with French thé, Spanish te, German Tee, etc., derive via Dutch thee from the Amoy form, reflecting the role of the Dutch as the chief importers of the leaves (through the Dutch East India Company, from 1610). The distribution of the different forms of the word in Europe reflects the spread of use of the beverage. The later form, which became Modern English tea, is via Dutch, from Malay teh and directly from Chinese (Amoy dialect) t'e, which corresponds to Mandarin ch'a. The two forms of the word reflect two paths of transmission: chaa is from Portuguese cha, attested in Portuguese from 1550s, via Macao, from Mandarin (Chinese) ch'a (cf chai). But earlier in English as chaa (1590s), also cha, tcha, chia, cia. 1650s, tay, also in early spellings thea, tey, tee and at first pronounced so as to rhyme with obey the modern pronunciation predominates from mid-18c.