Arabic words in English you didn’t even know you knew
Algorithm and sofa, candy and apricot, algebra and zero, and so many more are actually Arab migrants.
By Elon Gilad | Originally published in Haaretz | Feb. 12, 2015 |
“East is east, and west is west, and never the twain shall meet,” Rudyard Kipling wrote. Nonsense! The two have been meeting for centuries, leaving their mark on both Arabic and the languages of Europe. Here are 40 English words that you never knew came from the Arab Middle East.
Arabic words generally didn’t enter English directly. They usually arrived through other European languages, chiefly Spanish and Italian, and were of two main types: scientific terms — reflecting the preeminence of the Arab world in science during the Middle Ages, and the names of goods, reflecting both the origin of the goods and the status of Arab merchants in trade during this period.
The concept of nothingness in Math
First and foremost, we have the Arabs to thank for the word zero, if not the concept, though it isn’t clear which civilization invented it first — the Indians or the Babylonians. The word “zero” is a corruption of the Arabic word for nothing, sifr, which is itself a mistranslation of śūnya, the Sanskrit word for “empty”. In contemporary Arabic sifr means both “zero” and “nothing”.
Sifr is also the origin of cipher and naturally enough decipher.
While on numbers, the English word algebra comes from the Arabic word al-jabr, which means “the restoration.” It derives from the title of the 9th century book “‘Al-kitāb al-muḵtaṣar fī ḥisāb al-jabr wal-muqābala” (“The Concise Book on Calculation by Restoration and Compensation”) by the Persian polymath Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī. The book was translated into Latin in the 12th century, and eventually al-jabr morphed into algebra, which took on the sense we know today.
This was not al-Khwārizmī’s only contribution to English. His name itself, which means “the native of Khorezm” (currently Khiva, Uzbekistan), became the English word algorithm.
A stamp issued by the Soviet Union in September 1983, commemorating al-Khwārizmī’s (roughly) 1,200th birthday. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Moving on to chemistry, alkali (the opposite of acid) comes from the Arabic word al-qali (“soda ash”). Quite ironically, the English word alcohol comes from Arabic al-kohl (“kohl”), powdered antimony used as eye makeup. The Arabic word entered European languages in the Middle Ages, originally meaning kohl, then fine powder, then essence — and then ethanol, the essence of wine.
In the field of astronomy and navigation, Arabic can chalk up claims to azimuth, from as-sumūt (“the directions”) and also the related zenith, from samt-al-rā’s (“the direction of the head”).
Once upon a time, before we had GPS capacity on smartphones, man navigated by the heavens: The “Heart and Soul” nebulae. Photo by: AP/NASA
Nadir (the lowest point) similarly derives from naẓīr as-samt (“opposite the direction”).
Arabs were such important trading partners to Europe, and many words from commerce originate in Arabic. Arsenal comes from the Arabic dār al-ṣināʿa (“house of manufacturing”) and magazine come from makhāzin (“storehouse”). Jar comes from Arabic jarrah and ream (as in a quantity of paper) comes from rizma.
Then there are the many products Arab traders introduced to Europe: Artichoke comes from Arabic al-ḵaršūfa, carob from ḵarrūba, coffee from qahwa, saffron comes from zaʿfarān, sumac (the red spice, not the poisonous plant) comes from summāq, caraway (as in seeds) comes from al-karawiyā, tarragon from ṭarkhōn (which probably itself originates in Greek), and tamarind comes from the Arabic tamr hindī (“Indian date”).
An artichoke plant, courtesy of Arabic. Photo by: Eyal Toueg
The chain starting in Sanskrit
Both lime and lemon come from Arabic līma, though ultimately both words came through Persian, from the Sanskrit word nimbū.
Orange made a similar journey from India, starting with one of the south Indian Dravidian languages, perhaps the Tamil nāram, then via Sanskrit and Persian to Arabic nāranj, which eventually made its way to English by way of Italian, (possibly Portuguese), and French.
The related tangerine gets its name from the Moroccan port city of Tangier, from where the small citrus had once been shipped.
Aubergine, another name for the noble eggplant, originated in the Sanskrit word vātiga-gama (“plant that cures wind”), which made its way to Persian in the form of bâdengân, which was transmitted to Arabic al-badinjān, which made its way into Catalan albergínia, then French aubergine and finally into English.
Hail ye, o “plant that cures wind”. Photo courtesy of Central-and Northern-Arava Research and Development
Apricot probably started its way in the Latin word praecoquum (“ripe before its time” or “precocious”), which made its way into Greek praikókion, which then made its way into Arabic as al-burqūq, which returned to Europe through Italian and Spanish, then to French and eventually to English.
Cotton comes from qoton, jasmine from yasmīn (possibly of Persian origin), and hashish, or for short hash, comes from the Arabic hashīsh (“dried herb”). The drug also gave its name to a religious sect renowned for smoking the stuff and also to its method of eliminating the competition — the ḥashāshīn, which begot the English word assassin.
Some furniture items also originated far far away: mattress came from the Arabic maṭraḥ (“a place where something is thrown”) and sofa from the Arabic soffa (”long low seat”).
And finally, for dessert, candy has its origins in India but came to Europe via the Arabic word qandī (“sugared”). Sugar came more directly from the Arabic sukkar — as did the words syrup, sherbet, and sorbet, all of which came from the Arabic word sharāb, which does not however mean anything sweet. It simply means “beverage”.
