List of Arabic loanwords in English

Arabic loanwords in English are words acquired directly from Arabic or else indirectly by passing from Arabic into other languages and then into English. Most entered one or more of the Romance languages before entering English. Some of them are not ancient in Arabic, but are loanwords within Arabic itself, entering Arabic from Persian, Greek or other languages.

To qualify for this list, a word must be reported in leading etymology dictionaries as having an Arabic ancestor. A handful of etymology dictionaries has been used as the source for the list.^[1] In cases where the dictionaries disagree, the minority view is omitted. Rare and archaic words are also omitted. A bigger listing including many words very rarely seen in English is available at en.wiktionary.org.

Dozens of the stars in the night sky have Arabic name etymologies. These are listed separately at the list of Arabic star names article.

Words associated with Islam are listed separately at the glossary of Islam article.

Loanwords listed in alphabetical order

admiral 

أمير amīr, commander. Amīr al-bihār = "commander of the seas" was a title in use in Arabic Sicily, and was continued by the Normans in Sicily in a Latinized form, and then adopted successively by Genoese and French. Modern French is "amiral". An English form under King Edward III (14th century) was "Amyrel of the Se". Insertion of the 'd' was doubtless influenced by allusion to common Latin "admire".^[2] [1]

adobe 

الطوبة al-ṭūba | at-tūba,^[3] "the brick". The first record of the word in a Western language is in 12th century Spanish.^[4] It entered English from Mexico in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Arabic dictionary of Al-Jawhari dated about year 1000 made the comment that the Arabic word came from the Coptic language.^[5] [2]

albatross 

الغطّاس al-ghaṭṭās, literally "the diver", presumably a cormorant or others of the pelecaniform birds, which are diving waterbirds.^[6] The derived Spanish alcatraz has its earliest record in 1386 as a type of pelican.^[4] "Alcatras" was in English in the 16th century borrowed from Spanish and meant pelecaniform bird not albatross.^[7] Beginning in the 17th century, every European language adopted "albatros" with a 'b' for these Pacific Ocean birds, the 'b' having been mobilized from Latinate alba = white. [3]

alchemy, chemistry 

الكيمياء al-kīmiyā, alchemy. The Arabic entered medieval Latin as alchimia, first attested in about the year 1140 in an Arabic-to-Latin translation by Plato Tiburtinus.^[4] The Arabic word seems to have had its root in a late classical Greek word (the alchemy article has more details). The late medieval European words alchemy and alchemist gave rise in the 16th century to the words chemical and chemist, beginning in French and Latin. [4]

alcohol 

الكحل al-kohl, finely powdered kohl, especially stibnite. Crossref kohl in this list. The word with that meaning entered Latin in the 13th century. In 14th century Latin it could mean any finely ground and sifted material.^[8] In the later medieval Latin alchemy literature it took on the additional meaning of a purified material, or "quintessence", which was typically arrived at by distillation methods. The restriction to "quintessence of wine" (ethanol) started with the alchemist Paracelsus in the 16th century.^[9] [5]

alcove 

القبّة al-qobba, "the vault" or cupola. That sense for the word is in an Arabic dictionary dated around year 1000^[5] and the same sense is documented in Spanish alcoba around 1275.^[4] Spanish begot French, earliest record 1646,^[4] and French begot English. [6]

alembic (distillation apparatus) 

الانبيق al-anbīq, "the still" (for distilling). The Arabic root is traceable to Greek ambix = "cup". The earliest chemical distillations were by Greeks in Alexandria in about the 3rd century (AD). Their ambix became the 9th century Arabic al-anbīq which became the 12th century Latin alembicus.^[10] [7]

alfalfa 

الفصفصة al-fisfisa, alfalfa.^[11] The Arabic entered medieval Spanish. In medieval Spain alfalfa had a reputation as the best fodder for horses. The ancient Romans grew alfalfa but called it an entirely different name; history of alfalfa. The English name started in the far-west USA in the mid-19th century from Spanish alfalfa.^[12] [8]

algebra 

الجبر al-jabr, completing, or restoring broken parts. The mathematical sense comes from the title of the book "al-kitāb al-mukhtaṣar fī ḥisāb al-jabr wa al-muqābala", "The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completing and Balancing" by the 9th century mathematician al-Khwarizmi. This algebra book was translated to Latin more than once in the 12th century. In medieval Arabic mathematics, al-jabr and al-muqābala were the names of the two main preparatory steps used to solve an algebraic equation; and the phrase "al-jabr and al-muqābala" came to mean "method of equation-solving". The medieval Latins borrowed the method and the names.^[13] [9]

algorithm, algorism  

الخوارزمي al-khwārizmī, a short name for the mathematician Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī. The appellation al-Khwārizmī means "from Khwarizm". The Latinization of this name to "Algorismi" in the late 12th century gave rise to algorismus in the early 13th. Until the late 19th century both algorismus and algorithm simply meant the "Arabic" decimal number system.^[14] [10]

alidade 

العضادة al-ʿiḍāda (from ʿiḍad, pivoting arm), a certain kind of surveying instrument whose usual context of use was in astronomy. Used by the astronomer Abū al-Wafā' Būzjānī (died 998).^[15] Word entered Latin in the Late Middle Ages. [11]

alizarin

العصارة al-ʿaṣāra, the juice (from ʿaṣar, to squeeze). Alizarin is a red dye. The origin and early history of the word alizarin is unclear, and a minority of dictionaries say the connection with al-ʿaṣāra is improbable.^[16] [12]

alkali 

القلي al-qalī (from قلى qalā, to fry), an alkaline material derived from the ashes of plants. Particularly plants that grew on alkaline soils—see Salsola kali. Al-Jawhari (died 1003) said "al-qilī is obtained from glassworts".^[5] The Arabs used it as an ingredient in making soap, and making glass. Earliest record in the West is in a 13th century Latin alchemy text.^[17] [13]

amber, ambergris 

عنبر ʿanbar, meaning ambergris, i.e. a waxy material produced in the stomach of sperm whales and used historically for perfumery. The word passed into the Western languages in the mid medieval centuries with the same meaning as the Arabic. In the late medieval centuries the Western word took on the additional meaning of amber, from causes not understood. The word's two meanings – ambergris and amber – then co-existed for more than three centuries. "Ambergris" was coined to eliminate the ambiguity. But it wasn't until about 1700 that the ambergris meaning died out in English amber.^[18] [14]

anil, aniline 

النيل al-nīl | an-nīl,^[3] indigo dye. Arabic is in turn from Persian and Sanskrit nili, indigo dye. In English anil is a natural indigo dye or the plant that it is obtained from. Aniline is a technical word in dye chemistry dating from mid-19th century Europe. [15]

apricot

البرقوق al-birqūq, apricot.^[19] Arabic is in turn traceable back to Byzantine Greek and thence to classical Latin praecoqua, literally "precocious" and specifically precociously ripening peaches.^[2] The Arabic was passed onto the 14th century Portuguese albricoque and Catalan albercoc = "apricot".^[4] Seen in 1578 in English spelled abrecox.^[7] [16]

arsenal 

دار الصناعة dār aṣ-ṣināʿa,^[3] house of manufacturing. "Ibn Khaldoun quotes an order of the Caliph Abdalmelic to build at Tunis a dār ṣināʿa for the construction of everything necessary for the equipment and armament of [seagoing] vessels."^[2] In English the early meaning was a dock-yard for repairing ships (16th century).^[20] This is still the meaning of the modern Italian it:darsena. Modern Italian also has it:arsenale meaning the storage of munitions. 14th century Italian included the spellings "tarcenale", "terzana", "arzana", "tersanaia"....^[4] From Italian and originally from the dock-yards of Venice the word spread to every European language. [17]

artichoke 

الخرشوف al-kharshūf, artichoke. The word with that sense was used by for example Al-Razi (died 930).^[15] Early Spanish carchiofa (1423), Italian carciofjo (circa 1525) are reasonably close to the Arabic precedent and so are today's Spanish alcachofa, Italian carciofo. It is not clear how the word was corrupted to French artichault (1538), northern Italian articiocch (circa 1550),^[4] English artochock (1591), but all of the etymology dictionaries say it is a corruption. [18]

assassin 

حشاشين ḥashāshīn, an Arabic nickname for the Nizari branch of Ismailism in the Levant during the Crusades era. This sect carried out assassinations against chiefs of other sects including Christians at the time and the story circulated in Europe. Generalization of the sect's nickname to the meaning of "assassin" happened in Italian after the Crusades era was over.^[21] [19]

attar (of roses)

عطر ʿitr (plural: ʿutūr), perfume, aroma. The English word came from India in the late 18th century.^[22] The word is ultimately from Arabic. [20]

aubergine 

الباذنجان al-bādhinjān, aubergine. The Arabic entered medieval Spanish, from which comes the modern Spanish berenjena = "aubergine" and Catalan albergínia = "aubergine". The French aubergine came from the Catalan form. It embodies a change from al- to au- that happened in French.^[23] [21] The aubergine food recipe name Moussaka is also of Arabic descent.^[24]

azimuth 

السموت al-sumūt | as-sumūt,^[3] the paths, the directions. Origin in texts of Astronomy in medieval Islam and the Arabic version of the Astrolab instrument. Geoffrey Chaucer's 1390s English Treatise on the Astrolabe used the word many times. [22]

azure (color), lazurite (mineral) 

لازورد lāzward | lāzūard, lazurite and lapis lazuli, a rock with a vivid blue color. In turn from "Lajward", the location of a large deposit of lapis lazuli in northeastern Afghanistan. The color azure without the initial 'L' was in all the western Romance languages in the later medieval centuries, and still is today, but it is spelled with the 'L' in today's Russian, Ukrainian and Polish (лазурь, lazur). "The 'L' is supposed to have been lost in the Romance languages through being taken as the definite article."^[7] [23]

B

benzoin, benzene 

Benzoin is a resinous substance from an Indonesian tree. Medieval Arab sea-merchants shipped it to the Middle East for sale as perfumery and incense. The word is a great corruption of لبان جاوي labān jāwī, literally "frankincense of Java".^[25] In European chemistry, the 15th century benzoin resin became the source for the 16th century benzoic acid which became the source for the 19th century benzene. [24]

bezoar

بازهر bāzahr (from Persian pâdzahr), a ruminant bolus. Today, a bezoar is a medical and veterinary term for a ball of indigestible material that collects in the stomach and fails to pass through the intestines. Goat boluses were recommended by medieval Arabic medical writers for use as antidotes to poisons. That is how the word first entered Latin medical vocabulary.^[26] [25]

borage, Boraginaceae 

Borage is from medieval Latin borago, a word first seen in Constantinus Africanus who was an 11th century Latin medical writer and translator whose native language was Arabic and who drew from Arabic medical sources. Today's etymology dictionaries almost all suppose the word to be from Arabic and the most popular theory is that he took it from أبو عرق abū ʿaraq = "sweat inducer", as tea made from borage leaves has a sweat-inducing (diaphoretic) effect and the word would be pronounced būaraq in Arabic.^[27] [26] The Boraginaceae botanical family is named after the borage plant.

borax, borate, boron 

بورق būraq, various salts (including borax) used as fluxes in metalworking. (The Arabic is said to be from Persian burah, a word that may have meant potassium nitrate or another fluxing agent^[4]). Borax | Baurach was adopted in Latin in the 12th century,^[4] with the same meaning as the Arabic, and the substance that the word could refer to was still varied and unsettled until the 18th century.^[28] Elemental boron was isolated and named from borax in the early 19th. The variant of borax called Tincalconite gets its name from medieval Arabic tinkār = "borax" conjoined with ancient Greek konis = "powder".^[28] [27]

C

caliber, calipers 

قالب qālib, mold.^[29] [28]

camphor

كافور kāfūr, camphor from the East Indies tree Cinnamomum camphora. The medieval Arabs imported camphor by sea from the East Indies for aromatic uses and medical uses.^[30] In the West the word's early records are found in medieval Latin medical books.^[4] [29] Another Asian tree import which had both aromatic and medical uses in late medieval Europe and had Arabic word ancestry is Sandalwood, from Arabic صندل sandal.^[31] The Arabs got the words in the Indies along with the goods.

candy

قندي qandī, sugared. Arabic is from Persian qand = "cane [sugar]", and possibly from Sanskritic before that, since cane sugar developed in India. "Candi" entered all the Western languages in the later medieval centuries.^[32] [30]

carat (mass), carat (gold purity) 

قيراط qīrāt, a very small unit of weight, defined as one-twentyfourth (¹/₂₄) of the weight of a certain coin namely the medieval Arabic gold dinar, and alternatively defined by reference to a weight of (e.g.) 4 barley seeds. The medieval Arabic word had an ancient Greek root keration, also denoting a small unit of weight.^[33] [31]

caraway (seed) 

كرويا karawiyā, caraway seed. Spelled "caraway" in English in the 1390s in a cookery book.^[34] [32]

carob (seed) 

خرّوب kharrūb, the edible bean of the carob tree. Carobs were used in medieval medicine and the word is in medical books by for example Ibn Sina, Al-Razi, Serapion the Younger, Lanfranc of Milan, and Guy de Chauliac.^[35] [33]

carrack 

This is an old type of sailing ship, from qarāqīr plural of قرقور qurqūr, "merchant ship". The word's early records in the West are in the 12th and 13th centuries in the maritime republic of Genoa.^[4] [34]. Another old type of sailing ship with Arabic word-origin is the Xebec [35]. Another is the Felucca [36]. Another is the Dhow [37].

checkmate, check, exchequer, chess, chequered, unchecked, checkout, checkbox ... 

The many uses of the word "check" in English are all descended from Persian shah = king and the use of this word in the game of chess. Chess was introduced to Europe by Arabs, who pronounced the last h in الشاه shāh hard, giving rise to the 12th century French form eschac and then eschec, which the English is derived from.^[2] (Similarly Persian burah -> Arabic buraq -> French borax) [38]

cipher, decipher 

صفر sifr, zero. Cipher came to Europe with Arabic numerals. Original meaning zero, then any numeral, then numerically encoded message. The last meaning, and decipher, dates from the 1520s in English, 1490s in French, 1470s in Italian.^[4] But in English cipher also continued to be used as another word for zero until the 19th century.^[36] [39]

civet (mammal), civet (perfume) 

زبد zabad, foam, spume; qaṭṭ al-zabād, "the spume cat", referring to a musky perfume taken from a gland in the animal. Seen in 14th century Italian spelled zibetto. Early usage in West was for the civet musk perfume.^[4] [40] For musk Arabic uses the word مسك misk (the English does not come from the Arabic). The plant genus Abelmoschus got its name from Arabic حبّ المسك habb el-misk, "the musk seed", which was used to make a musk perfume. [41]

coffee, café 

قهوة qahwa, coffee. Qahwa (itself of uncertain origin) begot Turkish kahveh which begot Italian caffè. The latter form entered most Western languages in and around the early 17th century. The early 17th century West also has numerous records in which the word-form was directly from the Arabic, e.g. Cahoa in 1610, Cahue in 1615, Cowha in 1619. Turkish phonology does not have a 'W'. The change from 'W' to 'V' in going from Arabic qahwa to Turkish kahveh can be seen in many other loanwords going from Arabic into Turkish (such as Arabic fatwa --> Turkish fetva).^[37] [42] Cafe mocha, a type of coffee, is named after the city of Mocha, Yemen, which was an early coffee exporter. [43]

cork 

The earliest records in England are 1303 "cork" and 1342 "cork" meaning bulk cork bark imported from Iberia.^[38] The word is believed to have come from a Spanish form "alcorque". This Spanish "al-" word cannot be found in Arabic writings, but almost all etymology dictionaries nevertheless state that it is almost surely from Arabic because of the "al-". The ancient Romans used cork and called it, among other names, "cortex" (literally "bark"), which is the likely ultimate origin. Crossref modern Spanish es:alcornoque = "cork tree" and es:corcho = "cork material" (corcho is not from Arabic).^[39] [44]

cotton 

قطن qutun, cotton. This word entered the Romance languages in the mid-12th century^[4] and English a century later. Cotton fabric was known to the ancient Romans but it was rare in the Romance-speaking lands until imports from the Arabic-speaking lands in the later medieval era at transformatively lower prices.^[40] [45]

crimson, carmine 

قرمزي qirmizī, color of a certain red dye widely used in the later medieval centuries for dyeing silk and wool. See kermes in this list.^[41] [46]

curcuma (plant genus), curcumin (yellow dye), curcuminoid (chemicals) 

كركم kurkum, meaning ground turmeric root, also saffron. Medieval Arabic dictionaries say it is used as a yellow dye and used as a medicine. A medical book in English around 1425 says "cucurme" is another word for "turmeryte" (turmeric).^[42] [47]

D-F

damask (textile fabric), damask rose (flower) 

دمشق dimashq, Damascus.^[43] The city name Damascus is very ancient and not Arabic. The damson plum – earlier called also the damask plum and damascene plum – has a word-history in Latin that goes back to the days when Damascus was part of the Roman empire and so it is not from Arabic. On the other hand, the damask fabric and the damask rose emerged in the Western languages when Damascus was an Arabic-speaking city; and apparently they referred to goods originally resold from or made in Arabic Damascus.^[44] [48]

elixir 

الإكسير al-'iksīr, alchemical philosopher's stone. The Arabs took the word from the Greek xērion (then prepended Arabic al- = the) which had entered Arabic with the meaning of a healing powder for wounds. The word's Arabic alchemy sense entered Latin in the 12th century.^[4] Elixir is in all European languages today. [49]

erg (landform), hamada (landform), sabkha (landform), wadi (landform) 

عرق ʿerq, sandy desert landscape. حمادة ḥamāda, craggy desert landscape with very little sand. Those words are established in geology including sedimentology. Their entrypoint was in late 19th century studies of the Sahara Desert.^[45] [50]
سبخة sabkha meaning coastal salt-flat terrain came into general use in sedimentology following now-classic 1960s studies of the coastal salt flats of the U.A.E.^[46] [51]
وادي wādī, a river valley or gully. In English, a wadi is a non-small gully that is dry, or dry for most of the year, in the desert. [52]

fennec (desert fox) 

فنك fenek, fennec fox. European naturalists borrowed it in the late 18th century. (In older Arabic writings, fenek also designated various other mammals^[47]). [53]

fustic (yellow dye) 

فستق fustuq, pistachio. In medieval Spain a dye from the wood of a certain tree was in use. The dye's Spanish name fustet was derived from Arabic fustuq according to most of today's dictionaries.^[48] After the discovery of America a better (more durable) yellow dye from a tree wood was found and given the same name. A derived technical term in chemistry is fustin. [54]

G

garble 

غربل gharbal, to sift; غربال ghirbāl, a sieve. Entered English and French through Italian garbellare meaning to sift and cull. It was a frequently used word among spice merchants in late medieval times. Sifting and culling was the usual meaning in English until the 19th century. The earliest record in English is 1393. English "garble" is arguably the parent of English garbage, whose earliest record is 1422.^[49] Arabic ghirbāl = "sieve" looks like its own root is in the late classical Latin cribellum = "sieve" (ancestor of English cribble = "sieve"). The change from cribellum to ghirbal involves transposing ri to ir. Transpositions of a comparable kind including some going in the other direction are seen in the loanwords apricot, crimson, safflower, scarlet, and talisman on this page; the Arabic dirham money unit comes from the ancient Greek word drachma. [55]

gauze 

قزّ qazz, raw silk – the dictionaries say this is an uncertain theory for the word's origin but they appear to be almost unanimous the word very probably comes from medieval Arabic somehow. "The word, like so many names of supposed Oriental fabrics, is of obscure origin and varying sense."^[4][7] Some speculate that the word originates from the ancient Middle Eastern coastal town of Gaza.^[50] [56]

gazelle 

غزال ghazāl, gazelle. Entered Latin in the early 12th century as gazela in a book by Albert of Aix.^[4] [57]

gerbil, jerboa, gundi, jird 

These are four different classes of rodents that are native to desert or semi-desert environments in North Africa and Asia, and not found natively in Europe. (1) 19th century European naturalists created "gerbil" as a Latinate diminutive of the word jerboa [58]. (2) يربوع yarbūʿa = jerboa (17th century European borrowing) [59]. (3) قندي qundī = gundi (18th century European borrowing) [60]. (4) جرد jird = jird (18th century European borrowing^[51]) [61].

ghoul 

غول ghūl, ghoul. Its first appearance in the West was in an Arabic-to-French translation of the Arabian Nights tales in 1712.^[4] Its first appearance in English was in a popular novel, Vathek, an Arabian Tale by William Beckford, in 1786.^[7] Ghouls appear in English translations of the Arabian Nights tales in the 19th century. [62]

giraffe 

زرافة zarāfa, giraffe. Arabic entered Italian and French in the late 13th century.^[4] The Arabic dictionary of Al-Jawhari (died 1003) tersely said al-zarāfa is "a type of creature". Two Arabic dictionaries of the 13th century speak of the neck of the creature.^[5] [63]

guitar 

قيتارة qītāra, a kind of guitar. "The name reached English several times, including 14th century giterne from Old French. The modern word is directly from Spanish guitarra, from Arabic qitar." (Etymonline.com). The Arabic is descended from ancient Greek kithara (which might be connected to ancient Persian Tar meaning string, and string instrument). [64]

H-I-J

haboob (sandstorm) 

هبوب habūb, gale wind. The English means a dense, short-lived, desert sandstorm created by an air downburst. [65]

harem 

حريم harīm, women's quarters in a large household. The Arabic root-word means "forbidden" and thus the word had a connotation of a place where men were forbidden. (Crossref Persian and Urdu Zenana for semantics.) 17th century English entered English through Turkish, where the meaning was closer to what the English is. In Arabic today harīm means womenkind in general. [66]

hashish 

حشيش hashīsh, hashish. Hashish has the literal meaning "dried herb" and "grass" in Arabic. Its earliest record as a nickname for cannabis is in 12th or 13th century Arabic.^[52] Earliest record in English is in a traveller's report in 1598. [67]

henna, alkanet, alkannin, Alkanna 

الحنّاء al-hinnā, henna. Henna is a reddish natural dye made from the leaves of Lawsonia inermis. The English dates from about 1600 and came directly from Arabic.^[53] [68] Alkanet dye is a reddish natural dye made from the roots of Alkanna tinctoria and this word is 14th century English from Spanish alcaneta | alcana, and medieval Latin alchanna, from al-hinnā.^[54] [69]

hookah (water pipe for smoking)

حقّة ḥuqqa, pot or jar. The word arrived in English from India. The Indian word is ultimately from Arabic. More information at hookah article. [70]

hummus (food recipe)

حمّص himmas, chickpea(s). Chickpeas were called himmas in medieval Arabic and were a frequently eaten food item.^[55] Himmas was later borrowed into Turkish as humus and entered English from Turkish in mid 20th century. The Turkish and English hummus means mashed chickpeas mixed with tahini and certain flavourings. In Arabic that is called himmas bil tahina. All evidence points to the origin of the recipe in Syria and Lebanon. See hummus. See also Addendum for Middle Eastern cuisine words below. [71]

ifrit (mythology) 

عفريت ʿifrīt, an ancient demon popularized by the Arabian Nights tales. [72]

jar (food or drink container) 

جرّة jarra, earthen vase. First records in English are in 1418 and 1421 as a container for olive oil.^[56] Spanish jarra has 13th century records.^[4] Arabic jarra has records going back centuries earlier.^[5] [73]

jasmine, jessamine

ياسمين yās(a)mīn, jasmine. The Arabic is from Persian.^[57] Seen in a 13th century Arabic-to-Latin translation spelled "iasiminum".^[4] The plant was first grown in England in the 16th century.^[57] [74]

jinn (mythology) 

الجن al-jinn. (The semantically related English genie is not derived from jinn, though it has been influenced by it through the Arabian Nights tales). [75]

julep (type of drink) 

جلاب julāb, a syrupy drink.^[4] Arabic is from Persian gulab = "rose water". In its early use in English it was a syrupy drink.^[2] Like the words candy, sugar, and syrup, "julep" arrived in English in late medieval times in association with imports of cane sugar from Arabic-speaking lands. [76]

jumper (dress or pullover sweater) 

جبّة jubba, a loose outer garment. The Arabic entered mid-11th century Italian as jupa = "a jacket of oriental origin".^[4] Mid 12th century Latin juppum and late 12th century French jupe meant "jacket". So did the English 14th century ioupe | joupe, 15th century iowpe | jowpe, 17th century jup, juppe, and jump, 18th jupo and jump, 19th jump and jumper.^[58] [77]

K-L

Kermes (insect genus), kermes (dye), kermes oak (tree), kermesite (mineral) 

قرمز qirmiz, kermes. Kermes insects produce a red dye that in medieval times was commercially valuable for dyeing clothes.^[41] In the Mediterranean region the insects' preferred food was the sap of the kermes oak tree. Two medieval Arabic dictionaries say al-qirmiz is an "Armenian dye".^[5] Perhaps the word is ultimately from Sanskritic krmi-ja, "worm-produced". [78]

khat 

قات qāt, the plant Catha edulis. English borrowed directly from Arabic in mid-19th century. [79]

kohl (cosmetics) 

كحل kohl, finely powdered galena, stibnite, or similar sooty-colored powder used for eye-shadow, eye-liner, and mascara. The word with that meaning was in travellers' reports in English for centuries before it was adopted natively in English.^[59] [80]

lacquer

لكّ lakk, lacquer, or any resin used for varnishing. The Arabic is in turn from the Persian and Sanskrit for lac, a particular kind of resin used to make a varnish. The Arabic entered late medieval Latin as lacca | laca.^[60] [81] Two lesser-seen varnishing resins with Arabic word-descent are sandarac^[61] and elemi.^[62] [82]

lemon 

ليمون līmūn, (1) lemon, (2) any citrus fruit. The cultivation of lemons, limes, and bitter oranges was introduced to the Mediterranean Basin by the Arabs in the Middle Ages. The ancient Greeks & Romans knew the citron, but not the lemon, lime, or orange. The lemon tree's native origin appears to be in India but the word "lemon" does not appear to be Indian.^[63] [83]

lime (fruit)

ليم līm, any citrus fruit,^[63] a back-formation or a collective noun associated with ليمون līmūn; see lemon. Spanish, Portuguese & Italian lima = "lime (fruit)". [84] Today's English "lime" has become a color-name as well as a fruit. It can be noted in passing that all the following English color-names are descended from Arabic words (not necessarily Arabic color-words): amber (color), apricot (color), aubergine (color), azure (color), coffee (color), crimson (color), carmine (color), henna (color), lemon (color), lime (color), orange (color), saffron (color), scarlet (color), tangerine (color).

luffa 

لوف lūf, luffa. Also spelled loofah in English. 19th century English. May be directly from Arabic, or indirectly by way of Latin botany nomenclature, or both. [85]

lute 

العود al-ʿaūd, the oud. "The Portuguese form pt:alaúde clearly shows the Arabic origin."^[2] Also Spanish alod in 1254, alaut in about 1330, laud in 1343.^[4] The earliest unambiguous record in English is in the 2nd half of the 14th century (Middle English Dictionary). [86]

M

macramé 

مقرامة miqrāma, embroidered veil. The path to English was: Arabic -> Turkish -> Italian -> French -> English. 19th century English. [87]

magazine 

مخازن makhāzin (from khazan, to store), storehouses. Used in Latin with that meaning in 1228 in Marseille,^[4] the earliest record in a Western language. Still used that way in French, Italian and Russian. Sometimes used that way in English in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, but more commonly in English a magazine was an arsenal, a gunpower store, and later a receptacle for storing bullets. A magazine in the publishing sense of the word started out in English in the 17th century meaning a store of information about military or navigation subjects.^[64] [88]

marcasite 

مرقشيثا marqashīthā, iron sulfide, pyrite. An alchemy word. Used by Al-Razi in early 10th century^[15] and by Ibn Sina in early 11th century.^[65] The earliest record in a Western language seems to be in an Arabic-to-Latin translation by Gerard of Cremona in the late 12th century.^[4] In modern English marcasite is defined as orthorhombic iron sulfide.^[66] [89]

massicot 

مسحقونيا mas[-]ḥaqūniyā, a lead-containing glaze applied in the manufacture of vases.^[67] In modern English massicot is defined as orthorhombic lead oxide. The word's history goes back to medieval Latin massacuma, which had the meaning of a lead-based ceramics glazing material in Italy in the early 14th century, and which came from Arabic masḥaqūniyā meaning the same.^[67] [90]

mattress, matelasse 

مطرح maṭrah, rug, large cushion. In Arabic the sense evolved out of the sense "something thrown down" from root tarah = "to throw". Classical Latin matta = "mat" is no relation. In 13th century Latin and Italian, followed by 14th century French and English, the mattress word usually meant a padded under-blanket, "a quilt to lie upon".^[68] [91], [92]

mohair, moiré 

المخيّر al-mokhayyar, good-quality cloth made of goat hair (from root khayar = "choice"). Earliest record in the West is 1542 Italian.^[4] Early English was spelled "mocayare", starting 1570. The mutation in English to "mohaire" is first seen in 1619.^[69] [93] Moiré means a shimmering visual effect from an interweaved or grating structure. It started out in French as a corruption of mohair. [94]

monsoon, typhoon 

These words referred to wind and rain events off the coasts of India and China in their earliest use in Western languages and are seen first in Portuguese in early 16th century. Arabic sea-merchants were active in the East Indies long before the Portuguese arrived – see e.g. Islam in the Philippines and camphor and benzoin in this list. موسم mawsim, season, used in Arabic for anything that comes round once a year (such as festive season, silking season, sailing season). طوفان tūfān, a big rainstorm, a deluge, and used in the Koran for Noah's Flood. For etymologies of how the two words were adopted by European sailors in the Far East see A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive, by Yule and Burnell (year 1903).^[70] [95] [96]

mummy  

موميا mūmiyā, embalmed corpse; earlier, a bituminous embalming substance.^[71] [97]

muslin 

موصلي mūṣilī, fine cotton fabric made in Mosul in Mesopotamia. The word entered the West with that meaning in the 16th century. The fabric was imported from Aleppo by Venetians, who called it mussolina.^[72] [98]

N-Q

nadir 

نظير naẓīr, the point of the sky opposite the zenith. Crossref zenith in this list. Naẓīr literally means the complement or counterpart. "The Arabic 'z' here used is the 17th letter of the Arabic alphabet, an unusual letter with a difficult sound, which came to be rendered by 'd' in Low Latin."^[2] 13th century Latin.^[4] [99]

natron, natrium, kalium 

The ancient Greeks had the word nitron with the meaning of naturally-occurring sodium carbonate and similar salts. The medieval Arabs adopted this word, spelled نطرون natrūn, and used it with that meaning. The modern word natron, meaning hydrated sodium carbonate, is descended from the Arabic.^[73] In Europe shortly after sodium was isolated as an element for the first time, in the early 19th century, sodium was given the scientific abbreviation Na from a created Latin name, initially natronium then natrium, which goes back etymologically to the Arabic natrūn (and then to the Greek nitron).^[74] Also in the early 19th century, elemental potassium was isolated for the first time and was soon afterwards given the scientific abbreviation K representing a created Latin name Kalium, which was derived from new Latin Kali meaning potassium carbonate, which goes back etymologically to medieval Arabic al-qali, which for the Arabs could mean both potassium carbonate and sodium carbonate.^[75] Crossref alkali on this page. [100]

orange

نارنج nāranj, orange. Arabic descends from Sanskritic nāraṅga = "orange". The orange tree came from India. The Arabs introduced it to the Mediterranean region in the 10th century.^[63] [101]

popinjay (parrot) 

ببغاء babaghā', parrot. The change of Arabic 'b' to English 'p' also occurs in the loanwords Apricot, Calipers, Julep, Jumper, Serendipity, Spinach, and Syrup. French gai = "jay (bird)". The French papegai = "parrot" has a late 12th century start date.^[4][76] The English dates from one century later. [102]

R

racquet or racket (tennis) 

The French fr:raquette, Italian it:racchetta, and the synonymous English racquet are usually accepted as derived from medieval Latin rascete which meant the bones of the wrist (carpus). The earliest records of the Latin are in two 11th century Latin medical texts, one of which was by the Arabic-speaking Constantinus Africanus, whose work drew from Arabic medical sources. (Crossref borage). Today's etymology dictionaries all suppose the Latin to be from Arabic and the most popular theory derives it from راحة rāha(t) = "palm of the hand". A less popular theory derives it from رسغ rusgh = "bones of the wrist".^[77] [103]

realgar 

رهج الغار rahj al-ghār, arsenic sulfide.^[78] In medieval times, realgar was used as a rodent poison, as a corrosive, and as a red paint pigment. The ancient Greeks & Romans knew the substance. Other names for it in medieval Arabic writings include "red arsenic" and "rodent poison". Ibn al-Baitar in the early 13th century wrote: "Among the people of the Maghreb it is called rahj al-ghār" (literally: "cavern powder").^[79] The earliest records in the West are in 13th century Spanish spelled rejalgar, and 13th century Latin and Venetian spelled realgar.^[4] In English, Geoffrey Chaucer spelled it resalgar in the 1390s.^[2] [104]

ream (quantity of sheets of paper) 

رزمة rizma, bale, bundle. "All agree that this etymology has been completely established by Reinhart Dozy."^[2] Late medieval Spain.^[78] [105]

roc (mythology)

رخّ rukhkh, mythological bird in the Arabian Nights tales. [106]

S

safari

Entered English in late 19th century from Swahili language safari = "journey" which is from Arabic سفر safar = "journey". [107]

safflower 

عصفر ʿusfur, safflower; or أصفر ʿasfar, (1) yellow, (2) safflower. The Arabic "fur" or "far" part mutated in Italian to "fiore" which is Italian for flower. The flower was commercially cultivated for use as a dye in the Mediterranean region in medieval times. In medieval Italian the spellings included asfiore, asfrole, astifore, affiore, and saffiore. In medieval Arabic the usual was ʿusfur, a word formally related to ʿasfar = "yellow".^[80] [108]

saffron 

زعفران zaʿfarān, saffron. The ancient Romans used saffron but called it "crocus". The word saffron is first seen in Latin in 1156.^[4] [109]

saphena (saphenous vein) 

سافين sāfīn or صافن ṣāfin, saphenous vein. The word is first seen in Ibn Sina's The Canon of Medicine, 11th century.^[81] The saphenous veins were among the more commonly used veins in medieval bloodletting. [110]

sash (ribbon) 

شاش shāsh, wrap of muslin. (Crossref muslin which entered English near the same time). The early records in English include this comment from an English traveller in the Middle East in year 1615: "All of them wear on their heads white shashes.... Shashes are long towels of Calico wound about their heads."^[82] In Arabic today shāsh means gauze or muslin. [111]

scarlet (color) 

* سقيرلاط * saqirlāṭ, "fine cloth" (fine cloth of various colors but red most common). The wordform siqillāṭ also sijillāṭ is well attested in Arabic from the early 9th century onward and it came from a Late Classical Latin and early medieval Greek word sigillatus meaning cloth decorated with seals (from Latin sig-, sign). The mutated form saqirlāṭ is actually unattested in Arabic and it has been theoretically reconstructed from an attestation in Mozarabic about year 1000. The latter form is believed to be the source of the Latin scarlata, first seen about 1100, meaning fine cloth, expensively dyed bright cloth.^[83] [112] The red dye was usually kermes a.k.a. crimson.

sequin 

صكّة | سكّة sikka, a minting die for coins, and also meaning coinage in general. In its early use in English, sequin was the name of Venetian and Turkish gold coins. "The word might well have followed the coin into oblivion, but in the 19th century it managed to get itself applied to the small round shiny pieces of metal applied to clothing."^[84] [113]

serendipity 

A word created in English in 1754 from Serendip, an old fairy tale place, from سرنديب Serendīb, an old Arab word for Sri Lanka.^[85] [114] Fortified by its resemblance to the etymologically unrelated Latin word "serenity".

sheikh 

شيخ shaīkh, sheikh. It has been in English since the 17th century meaning an Arab sheikh. In the 20th century it took on a slangy additional meaning of "strong, romantic man". This is attributed to a hit movie, "The Sheik (film)", 1921, starring Rudolph Valentino, and after the movie was a hit the book it was based on became a hit, and spawned imitators. [115]

soda, sodium 

Soda first appears in the Western languages in late medieval Latin and Italian. It is most often said to be from سوادة suwwāda, سويد suwayd, or سويدة suwayda, one or more species of plant growing in salty environments (saltworts) whose ashes yielded sodium carbonate to be used as an ingredient in glass-making. (See the saltwort Suaeda). That etymon suffers from poor documentary evidence but still an Arabic origin looks most likely.^[86] The name "sodium" was derived from soda in early 19th century. [116]

sofa 

صفّة soffa, a bench or dais. The Arabic was adopted into Turkish, and from Turkish it entered Western Europe in the 16th century meaning an oriental-style dais with rugs and cushions. Today's meaning of sofa is dated to late 17th century French and early 18th century English.^[87] [117]

spinach 

إِسبناخ isbinākh in Andalusian Arabic, and إِسفاناخ isfānākh in eastern classical Arabic, from Persian aspanākh, spinach.^[4] "It was the Arabs who introduced the spinach into Spain, whence it spread to the rest of Europe."^[88] The first records in English are around year 1400 (as documented in the Middle English Dictionary). [118]

sugar

سكّر sukkar, sugar. The word is ultimately from Sanskritic sharkara = "sugar". Cane sugar developed in ancient India originally. It was produced by the medieval Arabs on a pretty large scale. History of sugar. Among the earliest records in English are these entries in the account books of an abbey in Durham: year 1302 "Zuker Marok", 1309 "succre marrokes", 1310 "Couker de Marrok", 1316 "Zucar de Cypr[us]".^[89] [119]

sultan, sultana 

سلطان soltān, authority, ruler. The first ruler to use Sultan as a formal title was an Islamic Turkic-speaking ruler in Central Asia around the year 1000. He borrowed the word from Arabic. Caliph, emir, qadi, and vizier are other Arabic-origin words connected with rulers. Their use in English is mostly confined to discussions of Middle Eastern history. [120]

sumac

سمّاق summāq, sumac, species of shrub or its fruit (Rhus coriaria). In the medieval era sumac was used in herbal medicine and in leather making and as a dye. Al-Muqaddasi (died 1000) mentions it as one of the commercial crops of Syria.^[90] The word is on record in 10th century Latin^[4] and as such it is one of the earliest loanwords on this list.^[91] [121]

Swahili 

سواحل sawāhil, coasts (plural of sāhil, coast).^[7] The Swahili language is grammatically a Bantu language, with about one-third of its vocabulary taken from Arabic.^[92] [122] Another non-Arabic language with a lot of Arabic vocabulary that draws the name of the language from an Arabic word is Mahl, the language of the Maldives Islands.

syrup, sherbet, sorbet 

شراب sharāb, a word with two senses in Arabic, "a drink" and "syrup", and medieval Arabic medical writers used it to mean a syrupy medicinal potion. It was passed into medieval Latin in the 12th century as siroppus, a thickly sweetened drink, a syrupy medicinal potion.^[4][93] [123] The change from 'sh-' to 's-' in going from sharāb to siroppus reflects the fact that Latin phonology did not use an 'sh-' sound natively. The '-us' of siroppus is a carrier of Latin grammar and no more. Separately from sirup, in the 16th century the same Arabic rootword re-entered the West from Turkish as "sherbet", a sweetened fruity drink [124]. The form "sorbet" is a mutant of "sherbet" and was formed in Italian from the Turkish [125].

T

tabla (percussion instrument in music of India) 

طبل tabl, drum. English tabla is from Hindi tabla which is from Arabic tabl, which in Arabic has been the usual word for drum (noun and verb) since the beginning of written records.^[94] [126]

tahini 

طحينة tahīna, tahini. Derives from the Arabic verb for "grind" and is related to tahīn = "flour". Entered English directly from Arabic around year 1900. [127]

talc 

طلق ṭalq, mica or talc. An alchemy word. Common in medieval Arabic. Documented in Latin from around 1300 onward, but not common in the West until the later 16th century.^[95] [128]

talisman

طلسم ṭilsam | ṭilasm, meaning an incantation and later on meaning a talisman. The Arabic was from Greek telesma = "consecration ceremony".^[96] [129]

tamarind 

تمر هندي tamr hindī, "date of India". Entered medieval Latin medical texts from Arabic medical texts. In English the early records are 15th century translations of Latin medical texts. Tamarind's medical uses were various.^[97] [130]

tanbur, tanbura, tambur, tambura, tambouras, tamburica, tembûr 

These are plucked string musical instruments, each defined a little distinctively. From Arabic طنبور ṭunbūr (also ṭanbūr), string instrument. The tambourine, a percussive instrument, is not likely to be etymologically related. Likewise tambour = "drum" is either unrelated to tambur = "string instrument" or else the relation is poorly understood.^[98] With regard to the string instrument, the same word is in Persian and Arabic, and the dictionaries generally report the Persian to be from the Arabic. [131]

tangerine 

طنجة Tanja, port city in Morocco: Tangier ("Tanger" in most European languages). Tangerine oranges or mandarin oranges were not introduced to the Mediterranean region until the early 19th century.^[63] The English word "tangerine" arose in the UK in the early 1840s from shipments of tangerine oranges from Tangier and the word origin was in the UK.^[99] The Arabic name for a tangerine is unrelated. The city existed in pre-Arabic times named "Tingi". [132]

tare (weight) 

طرحة ṭarha, a discard (something discarded; from root tarah, to throw). Seen used in government regulations of the grocery trade in Paris in 1311.^[4] The tare weight is defined as the weight of a package that's empty. To get the net weight of goods in a package, you weigh the goods in their package, which is the gross weight, and then discard the tare weight. The word is seen in Spanish around 1400 in the form atara, which helps affirm Arabic ancestry.^[78] It is spelled tara in today's Spanish, Italian, German, and Russian. [133]

tariff 

تعريف taʿrīf, notification, specification (from ʿarraf, to notify). In late medieval Mediterranean commerce it meant a statement of inventory on a merchant ship (bill of lading), or any tabular statement of prices and products (or services) offered for sale. In use by Italian-speaking merchants in the 14th century. Entered French and English in the 16th. (Spanish tarifa is not on record before the late 17th).^[100] [134]

tarragon (herb) 

طرخون ṭarkhūn, tarragon. The word with that sense was used by the medical writers Al-Razi (died 930) and Ibn Sina (died 1037).^[15] It was used later in medieval Latin in a herbal medicine context spelled altarcon, tarchon and tragonia. Records for French targon, Italian tarcone, Spanish tarragoncia, English tarragon and German Tragon all start in the 16th century and in a culinary context.^[101] [135]

tazza, demitasse 

طاسة ṭāsa | طسّة tassa, round, shallow, drinking cup or bowl. The word has been in all the western Romance languages since the 13th and 14th centuries.^[4] It was common in Arabic for many centuries before that.^[5] English had it as tass in the 16th century, which continued much later in colloquial use in Scotland, but today's tazza and demitasse came from Italian and French in the 19th century. [136]

tuna 

التون al-tūn, tunafish. Ancient Greek and classical Latin thunnus [= tunafish] -> medieval Arabic al-tūn -> medieval Spanish atún -> American Spanish tuna -> American English tuna. Note: Modern Italian tonno, French thon, and English tunny, each meaning tuna, are descended from the classical Latin without an Arabic intermediary. [137] The Albacore species of tunafish got its name from Spanish & Portuguese albacora, which might be from Arabic, which in Arabic might have designated tuna species but probably not albacore.^[102] [138] Bonito is another tuna species. Some say this name may be a Spanish-ization of Arabic بينيث bainīth; others say it may be simply from Spanish bonito = "pretty good". [139]

U-Z

varanoid (in lizard taxonomy), Varanus (lizard genus) 

ورل waral and locally (particularly in Algeria) ورن waran, varanoid lizard especially Varanus griseus. In Europe in the 16th to 18th centuries it was usually spelled with an L, e.g. "varal" (1677, French), "oûaral" (1725, French), "worral" (1828 English dictionary), but certain influential writers in the early 19th century adopted the N spelling.^[103] The V in place of W reflects Latinization. Historically in Latin and Romance languages there was no letter W. [140]

zenith 

سمت الرأس samt al-rā's, meaning zenith, also vertex, and literally "top of the path". Origin in texts of astronomy in medieval Islam. Borrowed into Latin in the 12th century.^[104] [141]

zero 

صفر sifr, zero. Medieval Arabic ṣifr -> Latin zephirum (used by Fibonacci in 1202) -> Old Italian zefiro -> contracted to zero in Old Italian before 1485 (though the first record in Italian is 1491) -> French zéro 1485^[4] -> English zero 1604; rare in English before 1800.^[36] Crossref cipher. [142]

Addendum for botanical names

The following plant names entered medieval Latin texts from Arabic. Today they are international systematic names ("Latin" names): Berberis, Cakile, Carthamus, Ceterach, Cuscuta, Doronicum, Galanga, Musa, Nuphar, Ribes, Senna, Sophora, Taraxacum, Usnea, Physalis alkekengi, Crataegus azarolus, Melia azedarach, Terminalia bellerica, Terminalia chebula, Cheiranthus cheiri, Piper cubeba, Phyllanthus emblica, Peganum harmala, Salsola kali, Prunus mahaleb, Datura metel, Daphne mezereum, Cordia sebestena, Operculina turpethum, Curcuma zedoaria. (List incomplete.)^[105]

About three-quarters of those botanical names were introduced to medieval Latin in a herbal medicine context. For instance the Arabic-to-Latin translation of Ibn Sina's The Canon of Medicine helped establish many Arabic plant names in Latin, especially of medicinal plants of tropical Asian source for which there had been no Latin or Greek name, such as azedarach, bellerica, emblica, metel, turpethum, and zedoaria.^[105] The Arabic-to-Latin translation of a book about medicating agents by Serapion the Younger contained hundreds of Arabic loanwords, primarily botanicals. It circulated extensively in Latin among apothecaries in the 14th and 15th centuries.^[106] Medieval Arabic botany was primarily concerned with the use of plants for medicines. In a modern etymology analysis of one medieval Arabic medicinal formulary (authorship attributed to Al-Kindi, died 870, although perhaps partially or wholly of later date), the pharmacological names—primarily plant names—were assessed to be 31% ancient Mesopotamian names, 23% Greek names, 18% Persian, 13% Indian (often via Persian), 5% uniquely Arabic, and 3% Egyptian, with the remaining 7% of unassessable origin.^[107]

18th century European taxonomists created a number of new Latin plant names from Arabic names and these include Adenia, Aerva, Arnebia, Ceruana and many others by Forsskål;^[108] and Alchemilla, Averrhoa, Avicennia, Lablab, and others by Linnaeus. (List incomplete).^[109] Some additional miscellaneous botanical names with Arabic ancestry include Abutilon, Alhagi, Argania, argel, bonduc, lebbeck, Maerua, Melochia, Retama, Sesbania, seyal.^[110] (List incomplete).

Addendum for textile words

The list above included the textiles cotton, damask, gauze, macrame, mohair, & muslin, and the textile dyes alizarin, alkanet, anil, kermes/carmine, & fustic. The following are eight lesser-used textile fabric words that were not listed. Some of them are archaic. Baldachin [143], Barracan [144], Basan^[111] [145], Camlet^[112] [146], Cordovan^[113] [147], Marabou [148], Morocco leather [149], and Tabby [150]. Those have established Arabic ancestry. The following are six textile fabric words whose ancestry is not established and not adequately in evidence, but Arabic ancestry is entertained by many reporters. Five of the six have Late Medieval start dates in the Western languages and the sixth started in the 16th century. Buckram [151], Chiffon [152], Fustian [153], Gabardine [154], Satin [155], and Wadding (padding) [156]. The fabric Taffeta [157] has provenance in 14th century French and Italian and comes ultimately from a Persian word for weaving, and it may have Arabic intermediation. Carthamin is another old textile dye with Arabic etymology: قرطم qirtim | qurtum.^[114] The textile industry was the largest manufacturing industry in the Islamic countries in the medieval and early modern eras.

Addendum for Middle Eastern cuisine words

Part of the vocabulary of Middle Eastern cuisine is from Turkish, not Arabic. The following words are from Arabic, although some of them have entered the West via Turkish. Baba ghanoush, Bulgur, Couscous, Falafel, Fattoush, Halva, Hummus, Kibbeh, Kebab, Lahmacun, Shawarma, Tabouleh, Tahini, Za'atar .... and some cuisine words of lesser circulation are Ful medames, Kabsa, Kushari, Labneh, Mulukhiyah, Ma'amoul, Shanklish, Taboon, Tepsi Baytinijan .... For more see Arab cuisine.

Addendum for Arabic music words

Some words used in English in talking about Arabic music: Ataba, Baladi, Dabke, Darbouka, Khaleeji, Maqam, Mawal, Mizmar, Oud, Qanun, Raï, Raqs sharqi, Takht, Taqsim.

Contents:

Top · 0–9 · A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Words that may (or may not) be Arabic loanwords

almanac 

This word's earliest record is in Latin in 1267, where it meant a set of tables detailing movements of stars in the sky. A lot of medieval Arabic writings on astronomy exist, and they don't use the word almanac. (One of the words they do use is "zīj"; another is "taqwīm"). The 19th century Arabic-word-origin expert Reinhart Dozy said about almanac: "To have the right to argue that it is of Arabic origin, one must first find a candidate word in Arabic" and he found none.^[78] The origin remains obscure.^[115] [158]

amalgam, amalgamate

This word is first seen in the West in 13th century Latin alchemy texts, where it meant an amalgam of mercury with another metal. It lacks a plausible origin in terms of Latin precedents. Some dictionaries say the Latin was from Arabic الملغم al-malgham or probably was. But other dictionaries are unconvinced, and say the origin of the Latin is obscure.^[116] [159]

antimony 

This word was first used by Constantinus Africanus (crossref borage and racquet). He spelled it "antimonium".^[4] It may be a Latinized form of some Arabic name, but no clear precedent in Arabic has been found.^[7] The substance Constantinus called antimonium was well-known to the medieval Arabs under the names ithmid and kohl and well-known to the Latins under the name stibi | stibium. [160]

average 

The early meaning of the word was a lot different from what it is today. Weekley (1921) says: "The origin of the word is nautical and from the Mediterranean, which makes Arabic origin possible, but its etymology is still unsolved, though few words have received more etymological investigation."^[7] Some dictionaries today say the origin is unclear and others flatly say it has an Arabic origin. [161].

barbican 

Outer fortification of a city or castle. Recorded in French in 1160.^[4] There seems to be little doubt that the word comes from the Crusades. Perhaps from باب خانه bab khanah = "gate-house".^[7] [162]

carafe 

First appearance in the West around 1500 in Italian, 1570 Spanish.^[4] The Arabic hypothesis is that the verb غرف gharf means to scoop up water for a drink, which you can do by cupping your hands together or by using any scooping or lifting tool at all, and the name of the tool can be the noun غرافة gharāfa. Gharāfa is a good fit phonologically, and can carry the semantics of an intermediate container for a drink, but the word is almost completely absent from Arabic writings and almost completely lacking in other support from history.^[117] [163]

drub 

Probably from ضرب ḍarb, to beat, strike or hit with a cudgel. The English word "appears first after 1600; all the early instances, before 1663, are from travellers in the Orient, and refer to the bastinado."^[118] [164]

fanfare, fanfaronade 

The English fanfare is from French fanfare, which is very probably from Spanish "fanfarria" and "fanfarrón" meaning bluster, grandstanding, and windbag, which is perhaps from Arabic "farfar" meaning yap-yapping (onomatopoeic). This derivation is insecure even though there is no other theory for the word's origin.^[119] [165]

gala

The English word is traceable to Spanish and Italian gala = "fine clothing worn on special occasions", which may be perhaps from خلعة khilʿa = "an honorary vestment", "a fine garment given as a presentation". [166]

genet/genetta (nocturnal mammal) 

Seen in 13th century English,^[120] 13th century French and Catalan, and 12th century Portuguese.^[4] It is absent from medieval Arabic writings.^[78] Nevertheless an oral dialectical Maghrebi Arabic source for the European word has been suggested. جرنيط jarnait = "genet" is attested in the 19th century in Maghrebi dialect.^[121] But the absence of attestation in any earlier century must make Arabic origin questionable. [167]

hazard 

English + French hasard is attested in medieval times with the primary meaning of a game of dice. According to its etymology summary in a number of today's English dictionaries, it is probably descended via Spanish azar, attested 1283, from an unattested Arabic oral dialectical az-zār or az-zahr, "the dice".^[122] An alternative proposition, having the advantage of support in medieval Arabic dictionaries, derives it from Arabic يسر yasar = "playing at dice" and يسر yasar = ياسر yāsir = يسور yasūr = "gamester".^[123] The French hasard is attested more than a century earlier than the Spanish azar.^[4] It may not be from the Spanish. It may have entered French through the Crusader states of the Levant (as French was the Crusaders' main vernacular). Or it may not be from Arabic at all. [168]

lilac 

The earliest record of lilac in the West appears to be 1605 French. The earliest English is 1625. The early French and English had the exclusive meaning of the lilac tree (Syringa vulgaris). The word is widely taken as being descended from a Persian word for blueish color. The Persian is not attested meaning a tree or a flower; it is attested as a color. The Persian did not enter French directly, and a route of intermediation involving Arabic is a possibility.^[124] [169]

mafia 

Mafia comes from Sicilian mafiusu. Further etymology uncertain and disputed. Some propose an Arabic root for mafiusu; others say the word history prior to 19th century is unknown. [170]

mask, masquerade, mascara 

Late medieval Italian maschera = "mask" and/or Spanish mascara = "mask" is/are the source for the French and English set of words. The source for the Italian and Spanish is highly uncertain. One possibility is the Arabic precedent مسخرة maskhara = "buffoon, jester". In the context where mask was used, "the sense of entertainment is the usual one in old authors"^[2] (theatrical masks). [171]

massage 

Perhaps from Arabic مس mas, to touch. Another possibility is from Greek massein, to knead. The English word comes from French. The French is not recorded before 1779. Today's standard French etymology source says "the fact that the word appeared chiefly in accounts of travels in the Orient [i.e. the Middle East] seems to preclude the hypothesis that it came from Greek."^[4] The practice of massage was common in the Middle East for centuries before it became common in the West in the mid-to-late 19th century (see Turkish bath) but the Arabic word for massage was a different word (tamsīd|tadlīk). [172]

mizzen-mast 

Mizzen (or mizen) is a type of sail or position of a sail mast on a ship. English is traceable to early 14th century Italian mezzana.^[4] Most dictionaries say the Italian word is a derivation from the classical Latin word medianus = "median", even though the sail is positioned to the rear. Weekley suggests "It is possible that the Italian word, taken as meaning "middle", is really adopted from Arabic mīzān [ميزان] = balance. "The mizen is, even now, a sail that 'balances,' and the reef in a mizen is still called the 'balance'-reef." "^[7] The carrack sailing ship mentioned earlier, in its early 15th century form at least, had a mizzen. [173]

mortise 

The word's origin in 13th century France is without an explanation in terms of French or Latin linguistics. A number of dictionaries mention an Arabic hypothesis. [174]

tartar (chemistry), tartrates 

The chemical name tartar begins in 13th century Latin.^[4] It occurs often in later medieval Latin alchemy. Its origin is obscure. It is not in classical Latin or Greek in a chemical sense although there was a mythological hell called Tartarus. Medieval Arabic dictionaries have the name دردي durdī with the same chemical sense as tartar and with records going back centuries earlier.^[5] Therefore an Arabic parent for "tartar" has been conjectured by Skeat,^[2] Weekley,^[7] Devic,^[15] and others.^[125] [175]

tobacco

The English word comes from Spanish. A majority of dictionaries say the Spanish comes from the Amerindian language of Haiti. But Harper reports that "Spanish tabaco (also Italian tabacco) was a name of medicinal herbs from circa 1410, from Arabic tabbaq, attested since the 9th century as the name of various herbs. So the word may be a European one transferred to an American plant."^[126] [176]

traffic

Seen in Old Italian. A Mediterranean commerce word of unknown origin. Ernest Klein (1967) suggests ultimate derivation from تفريق tafriq "distribution". Ernest Weekley (1921) notes an Arabic hypothesis taraffaqa, "to seek profit". Walter Skeat (1888) says "origin uncertain, but almost surely Latin". [177]

zircon, zirconium 

Today's definitions for zircon and zirconium were set by chemists in Germany around the year 1800. Medieval Arabic زرقون zarqūn was used to mean cinnabar, red lead, and similar minerals. The Arabic word is said to come from Persian zargun meaning golden-colored.^[127] The Arabic was clearly borrowed into Spanish as azarcon and Portuguese zarcão, but the connection between those and zircon is obscure. About half of the etymology dictionaries say zircon descends from zarqūn somehow, or probably does. The other half take the position that zircon's ancestry is not known beyond the late 18th century German word "Zirkon".^[128] [178]

Notes about the list

The various etymology dictionaries are not always consistent with each other. This reflects differences in judgment about the reliability or uncertainty of a given etymological derivation. In cases where one dictionary reports an Arabic etymology but it's not supported by reports in other leading dictionaries, the word doesn't qualify for inclusion on the list.

Obsolete words and very rarely used non-technical words are not included in the list, but some specialist technical words are included. For example, the technical word "alidade" comes from the Arabic name for an ancient measuring device used to determine line-of-sight direction. Despite few English-speaking people being acquainted with it, the device's name remains part of the vocabulary of English-speaking surveyors, and today's instrument uses modern technology, and is included in the list.

The list has been restricted to loan words: It excludes loan translations (aka calques). Here's an example of a loan translation. The amygdala is a modern scientific word for a structure in the brain. The word comes from the Greek for almond. The structure has an outward vague resemblance to an almond. The almond resemblance was first conceived by medieval Arab physicians, who labelled the structure with Arabic "al-lauzat" = "the almond". Medieval Europeans directly translated this into Latin by using the Greek "amygdala" for it.^[129] Amygdala is thus an Arabic loan translation, not a loan word. Another example of a technical loan translation is dura mater. The dura mater is the tough outer layer of membrane surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Quoting an etymology dictionary: "Medieval Latin "dura mater cerebri", literally "hard mother of the brain," a loan-translation of Arabic umm al-dimagh as-safiqa, literally "thick mother of the brain". In Arabic, the words 'father,' 'mother,' and 'son' are often used to denote relationships between things."^[130] The word "sine"—as in sine, cosine and tangent—is another example of an Arabic loan translation.^[131] The majority of Arabic loanwords entered the Western languages in the late medieval era. But these examples indicate that medieval translators from Arabic to Latin brought in some unquantified number of Arabic words via loan translations in preference to loans. Most such translations took place in the later 12th and early 13th centuries. See Translations from Arabic to Latin in the 12th century.

See also

For a list of words relating to Arabic language origins, see the Arabic derivations category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Arabic influence on the Spanish language
• Influence of Arabic on other languages
• List of Arabic Star Names
• List of French words of Arabic origin
• List of Islamic terms in Arabic
• List of Portuguese words of Arabic origin
• List of English words of Sanskrit origin
• List of English words of Persian origin
• List of traditional star names
• List of (medieval) Latin words borrowed from Arabic (in Latin)

Footnotes

References and external links

• Dictionary.Reference.Com – online copies of Random House Dictionary and Collins English Dictionary
• Online Etymology Dictionary, by Douglas Harper
• An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English (year 1921), by Ernest Weekley – one of the best compilations of short summary etymologies, downloadable
• Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales – well-referenced etymologies in French language
• Arabismen im Deutschen: lexikalische Transferenzen vom Arabischen ins Deutsche, by Raja Tazi (1998). – 400-page book about the German words of Arabic ancestry. Mostly the same words that are seen in English. German got the words primarily from French, secondarily from Latin, and thirdly from other European languages.
• Baheth.info – searchable copies of large medieval Arabic dictionaries, including the dictionaries by Ibn Manzur, Fairuzabadi, and Al-Jawhari
• Richardson's Arabic–English Dictionary, year 1852 Edition – more than 1400 pages long, freely downloadable
• An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language (year 1888), by Walter W. Skeat – sometimes found incorrect by later research but usually not
• Middle English Dictionary – biggest and best for late medieval English, fully searchable online
• YourDictionary.com – online copies of Webster's New World Dictionary and American Heritage Dictionary
• Oxford Online Compact Dictionary
• Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary
• Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English (1966), by Eric Partridge
• Word Origins (2005), by John Ayto
• Arabic Contributions to the English Vocabulary, by Habeeb Salloum and James Peters. 1996. Beirut: Librairie du Liban. 142 pages.