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Another list of words borrowed from Arabic. Hard to tell how many duplicates. Here is ;URL to this site, which gives many countries from which words have been borrowed. Well worth browsing:
http://www.krysstal.com/borrow.html
admiral, albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove (recess for a bed), alfalfa, algebra (reunion of broken
parts), algorithm, alkali, amber, amulet, aniline, antimony, arsenal, artichoke, assassin, average
(equitable distribution of losses due to damaged goods), ayatollah, azimuth, benzene (from Java -
from a resin in an Asian tree) calibre (mould for casting metal), carat (weight of four grains), caraway,
cipher, coffee, cork (bark), cotton, drub (beat), elixir, fakir, fellah (peasant), fez (named after its city
of origin in Morocco), gala, garbage, garble, gazelle, genie, giraffe, goul (the same root as Algol),
hashish, harem, hazard, henna, kismet (fate), lackey (footman), lime, loofah, lute, magazine,
marzipan, mask (buffoon), mattress, minaret, mohair, monkey, monsoon (season), mosque, myrrh,
nadir, pancreas, racket (for ball games - palm of hand), ream (bundle), safari, Sahara (desert),
saffron, sahib (friend), satin (named after its city of origin in China), sequin (coin), sheikh (old man),
sherbet, sheriff (noble), sofa, soda (headache - from plant used as a remedy), sultan, syrup (drink),
tabby (from a district in Baghdad where striped cloth was made), talisman, tamarind (Indian date),
tariff, wadi (dry river), yashmak (veil), zenith (pass over the head), zero, zircon
Bill:
I hate it when this happens. Along comes a list like this, and one, just one, of the words shouldn't be included, and it makes me question everything in the list. Sheriff in the sense of a county officer is not from Arabic, according to my dictionary. So I looked at some of the other words.
Carat is also suspect, since it came to us through Arabic from Greek. It is akin to keratin, believe it or not.
My dictionary does not substantiate either garbage or garble as being derived from Arabic. I also looked in OED. Nothing there about Arabic either.
TEd
TEd
Dear TEd: Thanks for your bits of research. I think that is one of the most important contributions to the board, to point out errors in a scholarly way.
I just thought of "catafalque", the structure supporting coffin at funeral. i thought it might be arabic, but it is not.
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