(no subject)

[cleolinda]

Quick question: How does one pronounce "chai," as in, the tea? (Ironically, I'm all up in the correct pronunciation of more Jewish exotic "ch" words like "chutzpah" and "Chanukkah" and "challah," but give me a simple word like "chai" and I'm stumped.)


ETA: Thanks, guys. : )

Comments

[mental-thatone.livejournal.com]

So that it rhymes with "sky". :D

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

But with a "ch" like the "ch" in "cheese"?

[shoiryu.livejournal.com]

"Cha-i"?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I seem to be saying it like ch in cheese, rhymes with "eye."

[wendywoowho.livejournal.com]

CH like in CHAIN, and the word rhymes with "sky"

[layered.livejournal.com]

I've always heard it pronounced 'ch-eye'. Like.. 'eye' with a 'ch' at the beginning. Or 'aye' like a pirate says, with 'ch'.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Awesome. That's how I've been saying it.

Here's what everyoen says to me

[disgruntledgrrl.livejournal.com]

CH-Eye

[oranj-jooce.livejournal.com]

Chai:
Like "eye" or "die", I believe.

[ineedvm.livejournal.com]

*giggles* Like everyone else it is pronounced
with the ch and eye

[sunihiroku.livejournal.com]

with a TCH at the beginning.

[vivian-shaw.livejournal.com]

Chai's Russian, actually, if I recall; thus the CH is pronounced, unlike Hebrew-style soft CHs.

East Indian, not Russian!

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

And it's an alterant of the Chinese "cha", as is our own word "tea", by the way. However, the pronunciation is correct.

[channonyarrow.livejournal.com]

It's not a Jewish word - don't know if that's part of the deal with pronouncing it (I'm like you on the ch-Jewish words). It's Russian, and frankly that may be a derivative of an Asian language (or the other way around, as the Japanese for tea is cha.)

Perhaps it's the same in Russian

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

However, many of us first tasted chai in Indian restaurants, and I've been assured that the word is Hindi.

[yarha.livejournal.com]

Yep, ch- as in 'cheese', -ai as in sky. It's cause the Russians got their tea from a particular region of China and whatnot, unlike the people's who say 'tea'.

Yarha, Set the Chaineek Boiling

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

One of the better jokes about relaxation techniques (from the Simpsons, back when it was still clicking) included either T'ai Chi or Chai tea, the humor being in the inversion of the words. Easy way to remember....

[esorlehcar.livejournal.com]

And now I desperately want chai.

[zombiequeen.livejournal.com]

Me too!

[cheapblackpens.livejournal.com]

I've only heard it pronounced with the "ch" sound that you hear in the word "chair." "Ai" is pronunced like "aye." Thus:
chair - air + aye = chai

I wonder if that makes ANY sense.

[zahavah.livejournal.com]

incidentally, chai pronounced with the hebrew ch (like in chanukah and chutzpah and challah) means "life" — you know the song 'l'chaim' from fiddler on the roof (maybe not)? it means 'to life.'

Here we go....

[ernie-lundie.livejournal.com]

To life, to life, l'chaim.
L'chaim, l'chaim, to life.
Here's to the father I tried to be!
Here's to my bride to be!
Drink, l'chaim, to life!

To life, to life, l'chaim.
L'chaim, l'chaim, to life.
Life has a way of confusing us,
Blessing and bruising us.
Drink, l'chaim, to life!

God would like us to be joyful,
Even when our hearts lie panting on the floor.
But how much more can we be joyful
When there's really something to be joyful for?

To life, to life, l'chaim.
To Tzeitel, my daughter.
My wife.
It gives you something to think about,
Something to drink about.
Drink, l'chaim, to life.

(Reb Mordcha!
Reb Lazar!
Drinks for everyone!
What's the occassion?
I'm picking myself a bride!
Who's it to be?
Tevye's daughter Tzietel!)


To Lazar Wulf! To Tevye!
To Tzeitel, your daughter!
My wife!
May all your futures be pleasant ones,
Not like our present ones!
Drink, l'chaim, to life!

To life, to life, l'chaim!
L'chaim, l'chaim, to life!
It takes a wedding to make us say,
"Let's live another day."
Drink, l'chaim, to life!

We'll raise a glass and sip a drop of schnappes
In honor of the great good luck that favors you.
We know that when good fortune favors two such men,
It stands to reason we deserve it, too!

To us and our good fortune.
Be happy! Be healthy! Long life!
And if our good fortune never comes,
Here's to whatever comes.
Drink l'chaim, to life!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Za va, shas da rovia, Heaven bless you both! Nasdrovia!
To your health ,and may we live together in peace.
Za va, shas da rovia, heaven bless you both, Nasdrovia!
To your health, and may we live together in peace.

May you both be favored with the future of your choice!
May you live to see a thousand reasons to rejoice!
Za va, shas da rovia, heaven bless you both. Nasdrovia!
To your health, and may we live together in peace!

We'll raise a glass and sip a drop of schnappes
In honor of the great good luck that favors you.
We know that when good fortune favors two such men,
It stands to reason we deserve it, too!

To us and our good fortune.
Be happy! Be healthy! Long life!
And if our good fortune never comes,
Here's to whatever comes.
Drink, l'chaim, to life

Drink L'chaim.......To Life!

And I got the lyrics from http://www.lyricsdownload.com/zero-mostel-to-life-lyrics.html

[trixasaurus.livejournal.com]

cheye. like "ch" church and "ai" ... eye.

haha

A wee spot o' tea, m'deah?

[oddnari.livejournal.com]

Chai's a Hindi word all right. The "ch" is pronounced like in "chair" or "chiklets" and "ai" is like "eye".
The phrase we normally use is "Ek pyaala chai" - One cup (o') tea.

Re: A wee spot o' tea, m'deah?

[divabat.livejournal.com]

Yep! in bengali the word is "cha" (like "chai" without the "i").

[dolfairy173.livejournal.com]

its intresting to be talking about "Chi" when my name is Chaia

People mess that up all the time... its actually "K" as in "Key", "Ai" as in "Eye" and "Ya" "k-EYE-Ya"

But people call me Chay-ya, Kia (yes.. like the car), and even Chia (my nick name has been Chia Pet for the past 7 years)

lol.. So I can sympathesize with Chi

[girlandetc.livejournal.com]

somewhat unrelated, but - i know the jewish ch in chanukkah is, well, hanukkah, but i've heard challah pronounced kallah. is that wrong, or just alternate? (my bf is half jewish, btw, that's where i'm getting this.)

[ernie-lundie.livejournal.com]

*starts singing* Cold hard witch, she's just a slip of the wand...

[sobota.livejournal.com]

I know this is a bit late, but I've always pronounced my 'chai' like K-eye. Hard see, atch is silent. Hmmm. Am I doing it wrong?

On an interesting linguistic note - chai is a verrah verrah old root word

[kali921.livejournal.com]

The linguist will now weigh in with some interesting (well, at least to me) info about the word "chai."

The word "chai," or tea (which is what it actually means; it doesn't mean just the Indian drink, it actually means tea) is shared in multiple Indo European languages unchanged, thus indicating that it is a very, very old IE root word. Very old indeed. The word is, for example, exactly the same in Russian.

You can also trace the anicent trade routes by looking at which version of the word "chai" that ancient cultures used at any given period of history, and learn a ton.

A common progressive consonant evolution in Germanic languages from Indo European root words was to shift "ch" to "t." Thus, chai became "tea" in English. Eventually.

Re: On an interesting linguistic note - chai is a verrah verrah old root word

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, but I was completely boggled by your comment and had to respond. Where to start?

Hmm. Okay--

First of all, "chai" isn't Indo-European in origin, which you seem to be implying. It's in fact from the Cantonese word for tea, "cha". As you know (being a linguist and all), Cantonese is a Chinese language.

Neither is "tea" derived from "chai". "Tea", "te", and its variants come from the Minnan word for "tea", "te". The Minnan dialect was spoken around the Port of Amoy, one of the first trading ports in China frequented by Europeans. (Or maybe it was THE first, my history is a little fuzzy.)

Finally, tea wasn't even discovered by Europeans until the late 1500s--obviously, they didn't need a word for it until then. So calling it "very, very old" makes no sense, unless you consider a few centuries to make something very, very old. In the linguistic sense, that's quite new.

But look up--at least you were right that it's a word, even if it isn't a very, very old Indo-European root.

I'm also puzzled by your assumption that the lack of variation in "chai" over IE languages means that it's a very very old root word (by "root", I assume you simply mean the word modern variants are derived from). If anything, this indicates the exact opposite, as the word has had less time to evolve.

I can't comment on the "ch"->"t" shift, because I haven't studied Germanic languages in depth.

[edda.livejournal.com]

When ordering, I always pronounce it "frappuccino".



What?

[(Anonymous)]

Yep, it's a generic word meaning 'tea' in many Asian countries, including India, where we pronounce it with a long 'a' like one in 'far' or 'star'. So, not exactly 'ch-eye' but 'ch-aai'.

JP