South American plant, 1570s, from Spanish coca, from Quechua (Inca) cuca, which is perhaps ultimately from the related Aymara, a native language of Bolivia.
Entries linking to coca
Coca-Cola
invented 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., by druggist Dr. John S. Pemberton. So called because original ingredients were derived from coca leaves and cola nuts. It contained minute amounts of cocaine until 1909.
Drink the brain tonic and intellectual soda fountain beverage Coca-Cola. [Atlanta Evening Journal, June 30, 1887]
Coca-colanization, also Coca-colonization was coined 1950 during an attempt to ban the beverage in France, led by the communist party and the wine-growers.
France's Communist press bristled with warnings against US "Coca-Colonization." Coke salesmen were described as agents of the OSS and the U.S. State Department. "Tremble," roared Vienna's Communist Der Abend, "Coca-Cola is on the march!" [Time magazine, March 13, 1950]