(1)Its Etymological Review

In the prehistoric time, nothing ever invented that could be recognized by the later mankind as words. For intercommunication, vocal utterence was used only. The thing tea made its primier appearance as recorded in the first book of words, Er Ya, wherein it gave a definition: “Jia, a bitter plant.” The alleged author of Er Ya made this definition on circa 1115 B.C. This was more than three thousand years ago. The word in Chinese Han language is 价, Pronounced JIA.

China did not have unified characters and dialects before Qin Dynasty had unified the entire territory. Therefore the words representing this commodity were many. Many forms in calligraphy also contributed to the confusion. According to the Tea Classic, even later in Tang Dynasty there were many names representing “tea”. There were 荼，蔎，名，茹 ,in addition to the one given in Er Ya, the 价，But the sound was fortunate than written form to have been simplified, thanks to the marketing activities, In the daily transactions through a long period the name of tea gradually drifted into a uniformed sound — cha. The written form followed suit was simplified to 荼, But before c. 750 A .D., this word荼contained more than one meanings — is mean at the same time three plants:
a. tea as a beverage
b. bitter vegetable
c. the white flower from a kind of weed.
As to its pronouncing, it had another sound, te, beside the generally acknowledged sound “cha” .
Down to the time of the Three Kingdoms(c. 220 A.D.),the sound cha established its due position. In Tea Classic, the author presented that for easy writing, one small bar (horizontal stroke) was omitted from the original double bar form 荼. It stabilized to the form as we know tit now. This one-bar-minus form was first formed in Kai Yuan Dictionary of Pronounciation and Meaning, a dictionary published 1300 years ago.
To analyse, all Han characters are hieroglyphic in origin. The word 茶 composed of ten strokes, is a combination of three parts. The two crosses on the top represent leaves. The arrow head (circomflex) represent the crown of a tree. The remaining 木 represents the trunk, indicating wooky plant.
Tea has many other name beside茶(cha).
Many ethnic peoples have their own names for this stuff with apparently different pronunciations. Even Han people, though using the same written form, may call it differently with their native tongues. In the literature sector, tea is given many fancy names.
(2)How is It Called in Foreign Lands
The sound given to the name of the plant tea by ancient Chinese had been carried through culture exchanges to many foreign lands. The name of the tea in many countries sounds alike, evidencing the transmigration of the name from one origin to other places.
Generally speaking, the sounds for the name of the tea can be classified into two language groups. One is the present Putonghua or popular mandarin. In this group. tea is called CHA. The other group is the provincial tongues which, to be exact, is the Fujian-Xiamen dialect tea is called TEY. During the Han, Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties, tea as a commodity was introduced to the outside world through culture interchange via the sea route of silk. The name accompanying this new commodity trade was CHA. It had been accepted by the Japanese people. Meanwhile, the western spreading which made tea staying in Persia, its name had been defected from CHA to SHAI. In Turkey, it became CHAY and in Portugal CHA. In Russia, it was CHA-1. The neighbors to the south of China, India, Ceylon, Pakistan and Bengeadesh called tea CHA in Singhalese language.
The approximate date of the transmission of the name TEY was in a later period—during the middle of Ming and Qing when the accidental overseas fleet began its oriental business trip. In 1664, the East India Company set up an office in Xiamen, then known as Amoy by its native tongue. The native tongue gave a sound of TUI or TEY to call the thing. The occidental merchants spelled the sound as TEE, then latinized into THEE. This came out in English as Tea. This beverage leaf in many countries. In France, it is THE. In Germany, TEE and in Spain it is TE. All these are derivatives from the Amoy tongue of TEY.