www.alphadictionary.com

I thought about this word when I added some Hershey's syrup to my coffee just now and wondered about its origin.

From the Online Etymology Dictionary:

mocha
1733, from Mocha, Red Sea port of Yemen, from which coffee was exported. Meaning "mixture of coffee and chocolate" first recorded 1849. As a shade of dark brown, it is attested from 1895.

I usually need some Mocha t'get ma Mojo workin', mahn!

I wonder what was it's pronounciation in Arabic, this word must have gone some changes through time.

Ask and you shall receive! Your question prompted me to look it up in Wikipedia.

Mocha (Arabic: المخا [al-Mukhā]) is a port city on the Red Sea coast of Yemen. Until it was eclipsed in the 19th century by Aden and Hodeida, Mocha was the principal port for Yemen's capital Sana'a.

Mocha is famous for being the major marketplace for coffee from the 15th century until the 17th century. Even after other sources of coffee were found, Mocha beans (also called Sanani or Mocha Sanani beans, meaning from Sana'a) continued to be prized for their relatively chocolaty flavor—and remain so even today. From this coffee the English language gained the word mocha, for such combinations of chocolate and coffee flavors as cafe mocha.[citation needed]

I don't know Arabic, but systranet.com translates المخا as "The Brain."

Ask and you shall receive! Your question prompted me to look it up in Wikipedia.

Mocha (Arabic: المخا [al-Mukhā]) is a port city on the Red Sea coast of Yemen. Until it was eclipsed in the 19th century by Aden and Hodeida, Mocha was the principal port for Yemen's capital Sana'a.

Mocha is famous for being the major marketplace for coffee from the 15th century until the 17th century. Even after other sources of coffee were found, Mocha beans (also called Sanani or Mocha Sanani beans, meaning from Sana'a) continued to be prized for their relatively chocolaty flavor—and remain so even today. From this coffee the English language gained the word mocha, for such combinations of chocolate and coffee flavors as cafe mocha.[citation needed]

On the map it looks like it's in the Bab-el-Mandeb (Gate of Tears, or as Systranet translates it literally, Door of the Wail), the strait that conncects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

I don't speak Arabic, but Systranet translates المخا [al-Mukhā]as "The Brain."

According to my research the city's name was mentioned in Homerite inscription as (المخن Al-Mukhun or المخان Al-Mukhan) in Mosnud alphabet (Ancient South Arabian alphabet). Whether this word changed to become (المخ Al-Mokh) in current Arabic meaning "Th Brain" I didn't find anything but this is possible considering the similarity.

Let's go with what Modi tells us. He is in a better position to research this than we are.

I will mention, parenthetically, that this word is similar to brain in Hebrew also.

Except for the alphabet, why does that not surprise me?

Mexican friends say it sounds like booger in Spanish. Sort of brain related.

mark not-in-my-nose Bailey

For the sake of accuracy "مخ - Mokh" from "لسان العرب - Lisan Al-Arab" ( the oldest and the collector of most of the Arabic words) mentions that this word means "marrow of the bone" basicly and means "brain" too (I think this can be explained by saying that a skull's marrow is the brain (Assumingly)). There is another word that scientific artiles mostly use to describe this part which is "دماغ - Demagh"

Except for the alphabet, why does that not surprise me?

The same goes for me, and when I searched for it an article said that this fact is negletec and there little to none researh about similar inscriptions in the rest of the Arabian Peninsula, with the risk of losing anything related increases with the increase of building projects there and other projects. I wonder what are they thinking by ignoring this? They lack appreciation for history, what a shame.

Bailey: The word for bugger in Spanish is moco, so the first syllable is identical but the end of the word is different.

The OED provides a slightly different timeline for the word:

< the name of Mocha (18th cent. as Mocho) a port in Yemen (Arabic al-Muka), near the entrance of the Red Sea, perhaps via French caffé de Moka (1751 in sense A. 1a, also 1762 as moca, 1767 as moka; 1879 in sense ‘cake flavoured with coffee or chocolate’). With sense A. 1a, compare Italian moca (1858), Portuguese moca (1873).
N.E.D. (1907) gives only the pronunciation (mu·k) /mk/. Although this remains the normal pronunciation elsewhere, in Britain it was superseded from the 1970s onwards by the pronunciation /mk/, apparently after Italian moca.

Google maps provides a fascinating view.

Wow, I learn something every day here.

Now I can say booger in Spanish!

Can't wait to try it...

Wow, I learn something every day here.

Now I can say booger in Spanish!

Can't wait to try it...

Feeling snotty, are we?

For the sake of accuracy "مخ - Mokh" from "لسان العرب - Lisan Al-Arab" ( the oldest and the collector of most of the Arabic words) mentions that this word means "marrow of the bone" basicly and means "brain" too (I think this can be explained by saying that a skull's marrow is the brain (Assumingly)). There is another word that scientific artiles mostly use to describe this part which is "دماغ - Demagh"

Once again this is very similar. In Hebrew brain is moah מוח and bone marrow is moah etzem מוח עצם. Bone marrow is also called leshed לשד.

Perry is there a connection between Arabic and Hebrew other than the fact that both are semetic languages?

Perry is there a connection between Arabic and Hebrew other than the fact that both are semetic languages?

Isn't that enough of a connection to have so many similar roots?

Many words are similar (and numbers too). Cheese, child, I, we, and many other words are very similar. One interesting exception; the Arabic word for meat is actually similar to the Hebrew word for bread.

I am not enough of a philologist to do more than point out the coincidences, as they occur to me. So if you do not mind my lack of bona fide expertise, I am always willing to share those with you as they come up.