Yerba mate

Yerba mate or hierba mate ({{IPA2|'ɟɛrβa 'mate}}), or sometimes called simply yerba, is a shrub in the holly family Aquifoliaceae, native to South America, used as a herbal tea. Mate is the correct spelling, but it is often misspelt "maté" or even "matte", a sort of hypercorrection intended to signal that the word is foreign, or does not have a silent e, or is otherwise distinct from the normal English word "mate". (Cf. the occasional English spelling "saké" of the Japanese loanword "sake")

Related Topics:
Shrub - Holly - Aquifoliaceae - South America - Herbal tea - Hypercorrection - Sake

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The word hierba is Spanish for grass or herb. Yerba is a variant spelling of it which is quite common in Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico. Mate is from the Quechua mati, meaning "cup". Yerba mate is therefore literally the "cup herb". Incidentally, the Rioplatense dialect turns the first sound in yerba into a voiced postalveolar fricative, giving {{IPA2|'ʃɛrβa}} or {{IPA|/'ʒɛrβa/}}.

Related Topics:
Quechua - Rioplatense dialect - Voiced postalveolar fricative

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Erva mate {{IPA2|'ɛrva 'mati}} is the (Brazilian) Portuguese name, and Ilex paraguariensis is the scientific Latin one.

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The plant is grown mainly in South America, more specifically in Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and Southern Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná). The Guarani are reputed to be the first people who cultivated the plant; the first Europeans to do this were Jesuit missionaries, who spread the drinking habit as far as Ecuador.

Related Topics:
Paraguay - Argentina - Uruguay - Brazil - Rio Grande do Sul - Paraná - Guarani - Jesuit - Missionaries - Ecuador

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