Pronunciation Of Yerba Maté

Yerba: The Spanish word "hierba" means herb, grass or bush; Yerba is one of many spelling's of the word that is used in Argentina. Maté is from the Quechua Marti, meaning "cup". Therefore Yerba Maté means "cup herb" or the like. The Brazilian Portuguese name is Erva Maté and is known locally in Southern Brazil as Chimarrão when hot or Tereré when taken cold. The name given to the plant in Guaraní, language of the indigenous people who first cultivated and enjoyed Yerba Maté, is ka'a, which has the same meaning as Yerba Maté.

Maté: In English the acute é indicates the pronunciation is not the same as the much more common English word "Matte", by analogy with words of French origin such as "Café" and other words whose acute é distinguishes their pronunciation from otherwise identically spelled English words, such as résumé and resume. Linguistic prescriptive's regard this usage as erroneous, a case of hyper correction. Purely descriptive linguists regard this sort of usage as a natural evolution of the language.