Re: What's the etymology of ketchup/catsup?

From: "Roger Mills"

> I've always understood (malaycentrism?)
> that the word came to Engl. via Malay, kechap, so probably thanks to the
> Brits in Malaya... but on due consideration it could just as easily have
> come from the trading posts in Canton or Hong Kong too.  In Ml./Indonesian
> it refers to their variety of (sweetened) soy sauce.
My Webster's Collegiate cites the Malay "kechap". Meanwhile, in Cantonese
there's "gip1jap1", which in both Guangdong and Hong Kong refers to what,
for all intents and purposes, is Worcestershire sauce (same as the above
Ml./Indonesian?)(a new taste sensation for those used to dipping their
Chinese raviolis in regular soy sauce and dark vinegar). I never gave it
much thought -- I just assumed it was a loan from English, since the first
character is one used exclusively in Cantonese and has the mouth radical,
which in the world of making up new characters means "we're only going for
sound here, meaning is unimportant". The second character "jap1" (Mandarin:
zhi1) means "juice".

Kou