The fragrant drink to this day has confusion about its kind. This is largely due to the fact that coffee is grain.
If you dig deeper, it turns out that the drink can be feminine, as it is a liquid. Such disputes can often be found on the Internet, but not in scientific publications. So why is the word "coffee" still masculine?
Linguistic history
Solving confusion about the gender of the word is very simple. We will approach this issue from the side of linguistics, relying on common dictionaries. They are the legal basis of every language in the world.
For the first time this word appeared in Russian at the turn of the XVII – XVIII centurieswhen Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich brought coffee beans for the first time to the territory of Russia. This happened back in 1665, but the drink was very expensive and was available only to noble and wealthy people. It was popularized by Peter the Great, who introduced fashion to various objects, things and everyday habits, which were in demand in Europe.
Over the years, the pronunciation of the word has changed. Most often in literary works of the XVIII-XIX centuries there is a mention of "coffee", "coffee", "cafe" and traditional "coffee", which has survived to this day. All these names take place, since they originate from foreign languages. In particular, in Dutch, the drink sounds like “koffie”. It was from there that Peter the Great borrowed the name, which had long been used in the royal environment.
Interesting fact: also influenced the name of the drink by his homeland, namely Ethiopia with the province of Kaffa. It is there that not only excellent varieties grow, but even wild coffee cultures.
More familiar forms of the word are found in Turkey (kahve) and Arab countries (gahwa), which not only grow coffee beans, but also masterly brew this drink. It is they who wear the masculine form. Since the middle of the twentieth century, dictionaries have recorded the only correct pronunciation and use of the word in the literary norm. Although colloquially “strong coffee” is still considered an acceptable form.
They tried to introduce the middle race several years ago into official circulation. However, linguists are skeptical of this turn of events. This leads not to the general development of the population, but to the fitness of a low level of education.
Why is he still?
Thus, today there is a single correct form of the word coffee in the masculine gender. Any attempt to use the neuter gender is a gross lexical mistake. Starting with the dictionary by Dahl (1880-1882), Ozhegov (1949) and closing the question with the work of Efremova, one can see everywhere in every entry: "Coffee is an unshakable masculine noun."
In recent years, dictionaries have begun to amend the neuter gender, which should only be used in spoken language. The task of every linguist is to note the changes in speech that occur in the mass consciousness of people. That is why the permissible form of the middle kind has become a fixed fact in modern works.
To preserve the linguistic base of the nation, it is best to maintain the old norms, which are an integral part of the cultural heritage. That is why coffee is still him. We will not forget about this even in everyday colloquial speech, which you do not always want to filter, correct and clean.
