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TashfeenTuesday 20th of December 2005 07:12:56 AM
Words of Arabic Origin - Salam Everyone,

It was always very interesting to me to discover words in foreign languages that have Arabic roots. I will start the list in here and challenge everyone to try to add new words they discover. My goal is to make the new learners of Arabic feel closer to the language by learning that many of the words they use on a daily basis actually come from Arabic.

Best Regards,

Tashfeen


So here it starts:

Almanac = Al-manakh (the weather)

Banana = Banan (finger)

Coffee = Qahwa

Guitar = Qeethara

Magazine = Makhaazen (places of storage)

Tarrif = Ta3reefah (notification or pricelist)




einharTuesday 20th of December 2005 08:22:04 AM
- admiral - ami:r-al-bahr 'ruler of the seas' (and other similar expressions) - amara command
adobe - al-toba 'the brick'
algebra - al-jebr 'reintegration' - jabara reunite
Allah - `allah, from contraction of al-ilah 'the god'
arsenal - dar as,s,ina`ah 'house of making', i.e. 'factory' - s,ana`a make
azimuth - as-sumut 'the paths'; see also zenith
caliber - qali:b 'mold, last' -
carat - qi:ra:t 'small weight' - from Greek
checkmate - sha:h ma:t 'the king is dead'
coffee - qahwah
cork - qu:rq
cotton - qutn
lemon - laymu:n - from Persian
lime - li:mah 'citrus fruit'
magazine - makha:zin 'storehouses' - khazana store
marzipan - mawthaba:n 'coin featuring a seated figure'
natron - natru:n - from Greek
orange - na:ranj - from Sanskrit
satin - probably zaytu:ni: 'of Zaytu:n' (a city in China)
sofa - s,uffah 'raised dais with cushions'
sugar - sukkar - from Sanskrit
syrup - shara:b 'beverage' - shariba drink
tariff - ta`ri:f 'notification' - `arafa notify
zero - s,ifr 'empty'
remyTuesday 20th of December 2005 04:29:51 PM
- i found these words while learning portuguese and they are similar to arabic

arroz - rice
ananas - pineapple

sandmanTuesday 20th of December 2005 06:09:06 PM
- yes, a couple of hundreds of words in english and in other langs (such as russian also) are from arabic, some of them are extremely often used in our every-day life %)

some more examples:
alcohol (rus. алкоголь (alcogol'))
algorithm (rus. алгоритм (algoritm))
amber
apricot (rus. абрикос (abricos))
arsenal (rus. арсенал (arsenal))
assassin
average (rus. авария (avarija) comes from the same arabic word)
azimuth (rus. азимут (azimut))
borax (rus. бура (burah))
calibre (rus. калибр (calibr))
cipher (rus. шифр (shifr), цифра (tsifra))
crimson
elixir (rus. эликсир (elixir))
gazelle (rus. газель (gazel'))
genie (rus. джин (gin))
giraffe (rus. жираф (jiraf) (j like s in pleasure))
hazard
massage (rus. массаж (massaj) (j like s in pleasure))
mattress (rus. матрас (matras))
Vega (the star)

TashfeenWednesday 21st of December 2005 02:57:00 PM
The Camera - Thank you all for your contributions. It's becoming a bit more challenging to find new words. However, I found a very interesting one that is not commonly known.

The word "Camera" is a word that we use all the time, can u guess where it comes from?

Ready for this.....it comes from the Arabic word "Qamarah" which means = Chamber.

The word is traced back to an Arabic scientist of optics. Al-Hasan Ibn Al-Haytham was the first scientist to explore the (Dark Chamber )experiment from which the modern camera was developed. Thus, the new name Camera comes from the Arabic origin "Qamarah"

Hope u liked it...now its your turn.

:)

Tashfeen

themagiclakeWednesday 21st of December 2005 03:53:40 PM
- In Italian are
Almanacco = Al-manakh
Banana = Banan
Chitarra = Qeethara
Magazzino = Makhaazen
Tariffa = Ta3reefah
Camera = Qamarah
Ammiraglio = ami:r-al-bahr
Algebra - al-jebr
Calibro - qali:b
Carato - qi:ra:t
Limone - laymu:n
Marzapane - mawthaba:n
Sofa - s,uffah
Zucchero - sukkar
Sciroppo - shara:b


i can't post more cause still i dont know arabic, but i will look time by time to this post so i will add more...


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