The word coffee entered English in 1582 via the Dutch “koffie”, which derived from the Ottoman Turkish “kahve”, borrowed in turn from the Arabic “qahwah”. From here, etymologists start debating. The exact origin of the word is not sure, and there are two main hypotheses. Some say the word “qahwah”, Arabic for coffee, comes from Kaffa. That is the name of the region in southwest Ethiopia that is the original natural habitat of the plant. Others believe that the word “qahwa” in Arabic was already used to indicate a reinvigorating wine and that only afterward the meaning of the word narrowed to only indicate the beverage obtained from coffee beans.

Source: Kolimi