As the two oldest Chinese loanwords, tee ‘tea’ and jaam ‘station’, have been properly established in Estonian they cannot been found in the Estonian Lexicon of Foreign Words (VL). The Estonian Etymological Dictionary (EES) mentions the Chinese origin of tee ‘tea’, but not of jaam, even though Enn Ernits (2007) has written on the Chinese origin of both words. The present contribution specifies the Chinese origin of the two words as evidenced by ancient Chinese sources.
