What is the origin of these English words?

[Mohammad Ahmad]

Admiral:

Adobe:

Alchemy:

Alcohol:

Alcove:

Alfalfa:

Algebra:

Algorithm:

Alkali:

The potash

Almanac:

Amber:

Apricot:

Arsenal:

Artichoke:

Assassin:

Average:

Azimuth:

Azure:

Barberry

Benzoin:

Berber:

Borax:

Caliber:

Camel:

Cameo:

Candy:

Cane:

Carafe:

Carat:

Caraway:

Carmine:

Checkmate:

Cipher:

Zero

Cinnabar:

Coffee

Cotton:

Crimson:

Crocus:

Cumin:

Drub:

Elixir:

Gazelle:

Genie:

Gerbil:

Ghoul:

Giraffe:

Guitar:

Gypsum:

Mortar

Hazard:

It
Jacket:

Jasmine:

Lemon:

Lute:

Magazine:

Mattress:

Mascara:

Massage:

Mocha:

Monsoon:

Season

Mosque:

Mummy:

Muslin:

Nadir:

Orange:

OK:

Racket:

Ream:

Safari:

Journey

Saffron:

Sash:

Satin:

Scarlet:

Sherbet:

Drink

Sofa:

Spinach:

Sugar:

Syrup:

Street

Tabby:

Tambourine:

Tangerine:

Tarragon:

Tariff:

Tripe:

Typhoon:

Vizier:

Zero:

Zirconium:

[Vota]

I may know, but I'd rather you just spit it out and tell me, because perhaps my semi-educated guess might be wrong.

[JBI]

More or less rooted in Semitic languages, mostly derived from Arabic.

[mal4mac]

Are you trying to get us to guess, or do you actually want to know the details? I'll assume the latter as it gives me an excuse to play with Oxford Dictionaries Online...

The full Oxford English Dictionary will give you the best guess at the origins of these words, or at least the most acceptable in Oxford circles. I have online access to the "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology" through my library. If you have to buy, or need a portable copy, it would be a cheaper/easier way to go, if the information it provides is sufficient. I'm certainly not doing them all for you :) But, to give you an idea of what you might get, the entry for "admiral" is:
--------------------------------------------------------
admiral

†Saracen ruler or prince XIII–XV; naval commander-in-chief XV. ME. a(d)mira(i)l — (O)F. amiral — medL. a(d)mirālis, etc., f. Arab. amīr commander. See EMIR.

So admiralty XV.

---------------------------------------------------------
Abbreviations:

† obsolete
f. formed on

Intriguing how words change! Why did "admiral" change from meaning "saracen ruler" to "naval commander" in the XVth century?

[JBI]

Mal, I already answered - he isn't looking for a long list of definitions, he is showing the commonality of Arabic words in European languages.

[PeterL]

Use an online etymologyical dictionary:
http://www.etymonline.com/

[Mohammad Ahmad]

Dear mal4mac member, dear all members subscribed here:

Firstly, I am sorry for delaying to reply because of my health isn't totally good.
Secondly, I would excuse if someone has felt that my sent topic was put in a term of challenge or disparagement from such language.
Learning languages need to be acquainted with each detail whether it is small or it is large.

Every language including the English language has foreign words this due to the neighbouring communication or the exploration expeditions from one land to another land or through the translation process.
Our Arabic language has many English words especially those words associated with the new manufacturing past the Industrial revolution, example of some words:
Radio, television, machine, power, engine, bicycle, computer, microscope, most mechanical parts and spear parts of any machine for ( cars, ships, trains, airplane and so on).
Some of words are slightly changed according to the Arabic language system by the method we called the Arabization which it is the transference form English to Arabic by using the Arabic letters. Some of them are transliterated; this method usually follows the foreign language letters.
Generally, some of the Arabized words don't meet the taste of Arabic reader and he would prefer to be in English than to be Arabized especially with universal students whose scientific language usually is the English.
Therefore, it isn't shame or defect if a certain language has foreign words due to the interference of other language.
Simply I post this thread because I just think that many English learners or even some of the native speakers themselves don't know this fact.
All the following words are Arabic origin:

Admiral: Arabic
Adobe: Arabic
Alchemy: Arabic
Alcohol: Arabic
Alcove: Arabic
Alfalfa: Arabic
Algebra: Arabic
Algorithm: Arabic
Alkali: Arabic
The potash: Arabic
Almanac: change for climate (Arabic)
Amber: Arabic
Apricot: Arabic
Arsenal: Arabic
Artichoke: Arabic
Assassin: Arabic
Azimuth: Arabic
Azure: Arabic
Barberry: Arabic
Benzoin: Arabic
Berber: Arabic
Borax: Arabic
Caliber: Arabic
Camel: Arabic
Cameo: Arabic
Candy: Arabic
Cane: Arabic
Carafe: Arabic
Carat: Arabic
Caraway: Arabic
Carmine: Arabic
Checkmate: Arabic
Cipher: Arabic
Cinnabar: Arabic
Coffee: Arabic
Cotton: Arabic
Crimson: Arabic
Crocus: Arabic
Cumin: Arabic
Drub: Arabic
Elixir: Arabic
Gazelle: Arabic
Genie: Arabic
Gerbil: Arabic
Ghoul: Arabic
Giraffe: Arabic
Guitar: Arabic
Gypsum: Arabic
Jacket: Arabic
Jasmine: Arabic
Lemon: Arabic
Lute: Arabic
Magazine: Arabic
Mattress: Arabic
Mascara: Arabic
Massage: Arabic
Mocha: Arabic
Monsoon: Arabic
Mosque: Arabic
Mummy: Arabic
Muslin: Arabic
Nadir: Arabic
Orange: Arabic
Racket: Arabic
Ream: Arabic
Safari: Arabic
Saffron: Arabic
Sash: Arabic
Satin: Arabic
Sherbet: Arabic
Sofa: Arabic
Spinach: Arabic
Sugar: Arabic
Syrup: Arabic
Street: word changed slightly from Arabic
Tambourine: Arabic
Tangerine: Arabic
Tarragon: Arabic
Tariff: Arabic
Tripe: Arabic
Typhoon: Arabic
Vizier: Arabic
Zero: Arabic
Zirconium: Arabic

Thank you all….

[mal4mac]

Use an online etymologyical dictionary:
http://www.etymonline.com/

Nice one. It seems a bit more user friendly & informative than the Oxford, at least for "admiral".
--------------------------------------
admiral (n.)
c.1200, "Saracen commander," from Old French amirail (12c.) "Saracen military commander; any military commander," probably ultimately from Arabic title amir-ar-rahl "chief of the transport," officer in the Mediterranean fleet, from amir "leader;" influenced by Latin ad-mirabilis
--------------------------------------

'Arabic title amir-ar-rahl "chief of the transport," officer in the Mediterranean fleet' makes it much more obvious how the English word might have been derived than the Oxford description.

[Mohammad Ahmad]

Admiral:
I am sure enough that its origin is Arabic as I heard and read.
It means the "prince of the sea".
please notice the Arabic sound ( A'meer al-Bahar) but it maybe is used in an old French language as a Saracen Muslims commander, which also it has relation to the terms associating with seamen.
Of course it is an ancient term or item.
Make sure dear friend this isn't considered as a defect for a language.
Moreover, as you are native speakers I want to be sure and to learn from you about something is still obscure and exactly this is the point.

[PeterL]

Dear mal4mac member, dear all members subscribed here:

Firstly, I am sorry for delaying to reply because of my health isn't totally good.
Secondly, I would excuse if someone has felt that my sent topic was put in a term of challenge or disparagement from such language.
Learning languages need to be acquainted with each detail whether it is small or it is large.


I was quite aware of the origins of those words. English has taken words from almost every other language. If you wanted to make a point, then you should have, instead of asking for information.

[mona amon]

Interesting, Mohammad Ahmad. :) I had no idea most of these words had an Arabic origin.

[JBI]

Interesting, Mohammad Ahmad. :) I had no idea most of these words had an Arabic origin.

Nobody ever reads replies,eh? I posted the answer five seconds in.

[mona amon]

JBI, I read your reply, and it was from your post that I learned about their Semitic language/Arabic roots, and was impressed because it seemed to be from your general knowledge rather than looked up in a dictionary. However since it was Mohammad who posted the thread, I was giving him credit for that. :)

[Mohammad Ahmad]

I was quite aware of the origins of those words. English has taken words from almost every other language. If you wanted to make a point, then you should have, instead of asking for information.
Everyone must be aware and must be sure from his writing.
I don't find anything is sensitive in my writing, it is just study
Of course, in the first day of sending my post, I wanted to know the reaction of others, I know that I am in a midst of a forum most its members are native speakers, but also I am sure enough from the information I have sent.
If anyone is familiar with Arabic language I shall discuss the matter with him deliberately until he turns satisfied, then I shall confirm my answer with suitable examples.
e.g. Syrup = شراب in Arabic look to the close converge between the two words phonetic syllables
S = ش \ R = ر the same sound \ p = ب the same sound
Now let me ask some questions:
Do you agree with me that any language in the world isn't empty of foreign words?
Don't you agree with me that the French contains English and Spanish words?
Does the English language not contain French words?
Does the Arabic language not contain English, Turkish, Persian words?
Is it a wonderful thing if the English language containing Arabic words?
I think no language in the world is empty of foreign words.

Arabic words transferred to English language in an ancient time, the time when the Arabic empire was in its golden era.
I admit and acknowledge that the Arabic language contains many foreign words including English words as I mentioned at previous reply above.
It is not a perplexing thing or a wonderful matter or a doubtful thing when such language contains foreign words.
It maybe different nations have similar of traditional culture or habits. Human is the human whether he lives in West or East.
When we were still students in the College of Art we read the plays of Shakespeare and in Romeo & Juliet I noticed something was nearer to Arabic culture as the old English women put a bitter material over their breasts' nipples in order to wean their babies after tow years of nursing, now this habit becomes obsoleted at Arabic communities.

[Mohammad Ahmad]

Nobody ever reads replies,eh? I posted the answer five seconds in.
I myself have read your reply, thank you

[JBI]

Meh, very few of these words I would argue came directly through Arabic to English. This is more of a reflection of Spanish and French influence on English than Arabic influence, given that most are later imports being filtered through Latin or French. This is more a reflection of Arabic influence on Romance languages, and a crossing of mostly nouns of different language groups (Semitic (or Afro-Asiatic) and Romance (Indo-European) language exchange. I could graph the same thing most likely for Japan, though ultimately the borrowings would mostly be from the 19th century (which is actually where many of our words for items of Chinese origin come from too).

That these languages have mixed is not interesting in the least, given that the Iberian peninsula was dominated by such linguistic trends up until the renaissance, and then almost consistently from Rome until the modern era, we can see a major exchange of territory and thought between what we will call the Christian world, and the Arabic-culture sphere.

Then again, my parents speak a Semitic language natively (my father also speaks Arabic fluently) so I wouldn't group myself exactly with this "christendom" idea of an isolated self, nor would I understand myself as being "Judeo-Christian" in culture, given that my family origin is largely in a Muslim cultural sphere - and these are all Americanisms anyway.

Only Chinese nationals really take their own "independence" culturally seriously, with state sanctioned programs to try and overwrite international influences on culture (like playing down the role of central Asian Buddhism, believing that Spicy Sichuan Food is a "great Chinese tradition" (though Chilies weren't consumed for food until the second half of the 19th century) and other nonsense.

To that extent, we can say that the cultural orientation of Europe has always been problematic, especially Germanic Europe. Rome, and Italians traditionally have always been looking around the Mediterranean, Greeks would have looked first to Persia, then to Turkey.

Linguistically speaking though, much of this change occurred before the paranoia of the medieval Church tried to kill off anything around it that didn't meet the criteria of the inquisition in its given forms. Amazing how this "Occident" of ours comes not out of progressiveness, but out of intense repression, the same way this "Chinese civilization" we see today comes less out of truth, and more out of cultural impotence.

[Mohammad Ahmad]

JBI, I read your reply, and it was from your post that I learned about their Semitic language/Arabic roots, and was impressed because it seemed to be from your general knowledge rather than looked up in a dictionary. However since it was Mohammad who posted the thread, I was giving him credit for that. :)
Yes, any translator after a period of a well practicing he himself is the dictionary, thank you dear member.
Of course, I have tasty moments here with you, really I find the benefit, I thank you all.
Of course, at my initial time with translation, I couldn't translate two lines, I couldn't write two lines, I couldn't reply. This is the tenth year I communicate English people at online.
At 2006 the Philadelphia University and even Chaplin the American University both of them sent to me the admission, but the refusal of my country about the online study on the one hand and the cost of the online study which it is too expensive on the other hand were the reasons in that time which stood against my wishes to complete my study abroad, so that I went to the evening study in my country.

[Mohammad Ahmad]

(Quoted- JBI)

Meh, very few of these words I would argue came directly through Arabic to English. This is more of a reflection of Spanish and French influence on English than Arabic influence, given that most are later imports being filtered through Latin or French. This is more a reflection of Arabic influence on Romance languages, and a crossing of mostly nouns of different language groups (Semitic (or Afro-Asiatic) and Romance (Indo-European) language exchange. I could graph the same thing most likely for Japan, though ultimately the borrowings would mostly be from the 19th century (which is actually where many of our words for items of Chinese origin come from too).
__________________________________________________ _____________________


Yes, the way of transference language to language is not always directly done across history, it may be changed for Latin then to English or to French\ Spanish\ Italian\ Indian\ Semitic\ then ......to English, i.e. across many stages...
There are more additional words other than the words that I mentioned them in the beginning and for instance the word ( stable) the place of horses housed, in Arabic we also say( stable) and it is not in our colloquial language, it is in the classical Arabic.
Really I am not sure is it English source or Arabic source! Yet I don't remember additional else but I confirm there is else more.
The word ( bazaar) = market, I think it is not English word, it is Persian and in Arabic\ Kurdish also it is used.
The word-Verb ( bargain) is also used in Kurdish language, I speak Kurdish, moreover I understand little of the Persian language because it has Kurdish words.

[ennison]

The most interesting word of Arabic origin on that list is alcohol. But though the word is of Arabic origin I'm sure the drug is one of almost universal choice.

[ennison]

Yes nearly all languages have many words of mixed pedigree (as mixed as Christ's own) but the average speaker of any language is unaware of that or uncaring or ignorant (sometimes xenophobically so). I find what you are saying interesting and was only pulling your leg a little with my reference to alcohol - insinuating the irony of how such a word can have arisen from a language which is now associated with cultures of extreme temperance. Not so the Scots who having given the rest of the world uisge nam beatha have never lost their desire to Beethovenise their livers with it. I guess most speakers of a language use it as a rough and ready tool - part hammer part saw part glue. So thank you for the list although a substantial number of us here would have known immediately what you were implying it pays to be reminded and there are quite a lot of youngish members here who would not have known.