The origin of tea trees is difficult to test, but some traces and historical materials in history provide a lot of testimony for the origin of tea trees, enabling people to understand and explore from many aspects and deep levels. With the continuous development of science and technology, science has gradually acquired conclusion.
The earliest tea word
In modern Chinese, the Chinese of tea is “茶”, but in ancient times, the name of tea was many. Before the "茶" was confirmed, there was a period in which the word "荼" gradually evolved and formed, and it was considered that "荼" was the ancient word of "茶". According to historical data, the first word "荼" appeared in the «Classic of Poetry» which is a collection of poems in ancient China, about the literary works from the 11th to 7th centuries BC.
There are few ancient Chinese characters, and the “荼” character represents many bitter herbage, including tea, grass and vegetables. After several hundred years of evolution, the word "茶" in modern Chinese has gradually evolved.
Chinese scholars generally believe that the word "茶" has officially become a tea in the modern sense, and is widely recognized by everyone. It is the first book in China that specializes in tea, «Tea Classic». Since then, it has standardized "茶". "The pronunciation and writing of the word, all the books use "茶" instead of the previous "荼" has been used until today, ending the history of the confusion of the name of the tea.
Before the Tang Dynasty in China, there were other names for tea, including the following:
- 1.茗 (ming) Nowadays people use “茗” as the nickname of tea, often appearing in literary works.
- 2.槚 (jia) used less, probably the meaning of bitter tea
- 3.荈(chuan) first appeared in the book "Wan Jiang" from 179-118 BC, referring to the old leaves of tea.
There are also some interesting names from ancient poetry:
- 1.不夜侯 (Clear headed at night), because drinking tea can keep ancient people awake at night and create more works.
- 2.清友 (soul mate) The ancient Chinese praised the tea as a close friend who can communicate purely, but did not need to obtain any material reward from the other party.