cola English · revision 39936

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1795|origins=pt cola}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈkəʊ.lə/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈkoʊlə/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The name of the tree and nut, also spelled [[kola]], is a Latinized form of a West African name:^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) the OED takes it [[bor|it|cola]] and its source [[bor|pt|cola]] (1575), which come from a West African language;^(OED 2026) it compares [[m|tem|a-kɔla|t=the seed]] and [[m|kri|kola]].^(OED 2026) Etymonline and Barnhart also compare [[m|man|kolo]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) and Collins thinks the word is probably a variant of the Mandingo name.^(Collins 2023) The Portuguese evidence comes from reports on the kingdoms of Ndongo and Kongo.^(OED 2026) The botanical genus is named ''Cola'' in Modern Latin.^(Klein 1966) As the name of a soft drink, ''cola'' is a shortening of [[Coca-Cola]], invented in 1886, whose name joins [[coca]] and ''kola'', two of its original ingredients;^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) according to the OED the short form first appeared in the names of drinks made by Coca-Cola's competitors.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The tree or its seed: the OED's first example, under the spelling ''kola'', is from 1597, in Abraham Hartwell's translation of a Portuguese account of the kingdom of Congo, where it means the fruit of an unidentified African tree.^(OED 2026) Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date ''cola'' for the genus of West African trees to 1795,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) and the Shorter Oxford dates the word to the early 17th century.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The seed of the tree contains much caffeine,^(Etymonline)^(Collins 2023) which made it an ingredient of tonic drinks in the late 19th century.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) A list published in 1900 by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union names dozens of drinks found to contain caffeine and coca, many of them with ''-cola'' or ''-kola'' names.^(Etymonline) From these trade names, above all Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola, ''cola'' came to mean any sweet, brown, fizzy drink of the kind:^(SOED 2002)^(Etymonline) the OED's first example is from an advertisement of 1903,^(OED 2026) and Etymonline dates it to 1919.^(Etymonline) The spelling ''kola'' for the drink probably reflects a renewed link with the name of the nut.^(OED 2026) In American drug slang ''cola'' has been used for cocaine, a play on ''coke''.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1575 – Portuguese ''cola'', the nut.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1597 – ''kola'', the fruit of an African tree.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1795 – the genus of West African trees.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1830 – the spelling ''kola''.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1868 – the tree.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1886 – ''Coca-Cola''.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1903 – a carbonated cola-flavoured drink.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1984 – (US drug slang) cocaine.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A sweet, brown, fizzy [[soft drink]] flavoured with extract of cola nuts or a similar flavouring: ''He ordered a burger and a large cola.''^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # Either of two West African trees of the genus ''Cola'', grown in the [[tropics]] for their seeds.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # The seed of such a tree, the [[kola nut]], which contains [[caffeine]].^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[kola]]

+ * [[Coca-Cola]]

+ * [[coke]]

+ * [[coca]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}