Fun with Arabic

[qatarperegrine]

At my sister's request, I'm going to be posting bits & pieces about Arabic as I learn it. Today's Arabic lesson is simple: English words that we have gotten from the Arabic language. We all know that words like genie and harem are from Arabic, and most of us have heard that algebra and alcohol are from Arabic words -- but some of these may surprise you!

• admiral (amir al-bahr, ruler of the seas)
  
• adobe (al-toba, brick)
  
• alfalfa (al-fasfasah, fodder)
  
• algorithm (al-Khowarazmi, a 9th century mathematician)
  
• alkali (al-qaliy, fried or toasted)
  
• almanac (al-manaakh)
  
• apricot (al-burquq)
  
• arsenal (dar assina'ah, factory -- literally "house of making")
  
• artichoke (al-kharshuf)
  
• assassin (h'ashshaashiin, hasish-eaters)
  
• Betelgeuse (biit al-jauza, shoulder of the giant)
  
• candy (qandi, candied)
  
• chemistry, and alchemy (al-kiimiia)
  
• chess, check and checkmate (shaah and shaah maat, "king" and "the king is dead," respectively -- through Persian, where it means "the king is defeated")
  
• coffee (qahwah)
  
• cotton (qutn)
  
• elixir (al-iksiir)
  
• jar (jarrah)
  
• lemon, lime and orange (laymuun, liimah and naaranj, respectively)
  
• loofah (luufah)
  
• magazine (makhaazin, storehouses)
  
• mattress (matrah, place where something is thrown)
  
• [tennis] racket (rah'et, palm of the hand)
  
• sofa (s'uffah)
  
• spinach (isfaanaakh)
  
• syrup (sharbah, a drink)
  
• tariff (ta'riif, notification)

From http://www.zompist.com/arabic.html.

Comments

nifty!

[y-pestis.livejournal.com]

I hadn't realized many of those! Candy, for example. The plants/fruits from warmer climes makes sense, as they would have been introduced to English speakers by Arabic speakers. I thought I had another one for you - pajamas - but that came from Persian by way of Hindi, apparently. Oops.

A fun rule of thumb I was given in a phonology class once was "basically, if a word starts schwa-l in English, it's probably from Arabic". Being as contrary as we were, we then spent ages coming up with counterexamples. Element, ulterior, allow. It was a fun rule till we ripped it to shreds, though, and isn't that really the whole point of linguistics?