Until you said that, I didn't even know that "lemon" was originally an Arabic word, but indeed it was. The OED says that English gets the word lemon thus:
[ad. F. limon (now restricted to the lime; formerly of wider application) = Sp. limon, Pg. limão, It. limone, med.L. limon-em, related to F. lime: see LIME n.2 The words are prob. of Oriental origin: cf. Arab. laimun, Pers. limun, Arab. limah, collective lim, fruits of the citron kind, Skr. nimbu the lime.]
So it is an Arabic word, but not originally Semitic; it's borrowed from Persian, and thus originally from Sanskrit.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Yeah
Date: 2008-05-28 05:05 pm (UTC)Until you said that, I didn't even know that "lemon" was originally an Arabic word, but indeed it was. The OED says that English gets the word lemon thus:
[ad. F. limon (now restricted to the lime; formerly of wider application) = Sp. limon, Pg. limão, It. limone, med.L. limon-em, related to F. lime: see LIME n.2 The words are prob. of Oriental origin: cf. Arab. laimun, Pers. limun, Arab. limah, collective lim, fruits of the citron kind, Skr. nimbu the lime.]
So it is an Arabic word, but not originally Semitic; it's borrowed from Persian, and thus originally from Sanskrit.