This sounds like a made-up Internet meme, I'm sorry.
For starters, tea is from China, not India (EDIT: this isn't totally correct, but tea drinking as a habit, rather than as a medicine, didn't exist in India until the colonial era). And why wouldn't they just write "chá" on the boxes?
I'm aware tea has different names in different languages. I believe the rule is "cha if by land, tea if by water" (or maybe the other way around). That's not what I'm talking about.
Almost every purported etymology of a well-established word being an acronym of an even older phrase is an urban legend. Another example: "fuck" being an acronym for "fornication under consent of the king". It's baloney.
I'm not talking about modern words like "scuba" or "laser" obviously.
She sounds like an impressive person.
Interesting enough, tea is an acronym in portuguese language.
The words T.E.A. were written on boxes carrying the expensive substance from India.
That means: Transporte de Ervas Aromáticas (Transport of Aromatic Herbs)
This sounds like a made-up Internet meme, I'm sorry.
For starters, tea is from China, not India (EDIT: this isn't totally correct, but tea drinking as a habit, rather than as a medicine, didn't exist in India until the colonial era). And why wouldn't they just write "chá" on the boxes?
It's 'cha' in northern Mandarin, but 'tê' (茶) in southern Hokkien, so it depended on which trading port you bought from.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tea#/media/File%3ANames_for_t...
Also, 'oo long' is black dragon.
I'm aware tea has different names in different languages. I believe the rule is "cha if by land, tea if by water" (or maybe the other way around). That's not what I'm talking about.
Almost every purported etymology of a well-established word being an acronym of an even older phrase is an urban legend. Another example: "fuck" being an acronym for "fornication under consent of the king". It's baloney.
I'm not talking about modern words like "scuba" or "laser" obviously.
Escape import duties if aromatic herbs had lower fees than cha?
It would take just one customs inspector opening up one mislabeled box and the game would be up.
But then it could end up in the Supreme Court [0].
0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nix_v._Hedden
Time to update https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_tea then?
That explanation is… highly unlikely.
Maybe because for us tea leaves fall under herbs, as general purpose description.
However the right wording is Chá, and it needs to be explicitly mentioned of what.
Chá preto - black tea
Chá de ervas - herbs tea
And so on.
That seems about as likely as "fuck" being the acronym "Fornication Under Consent of the King".