5 Words you didn’t know that came from the Arabic Language

Languages allow human beings to communicate with each other. Can you imagine if there were no speech! We may have never had good relations with anyone at all.

The speech is a very powerful medium, some languages sound really good and are light on the tongue some claim to be the language of love, language of diplomacy etc.

Different languages can serve different purposes. Some languages borrow words from other languages, there are loads of words in English that have been borrowed from other languages not just from the Arabs. For example, when the British went to India they took words from hindi, Persian and Bangla and have incorporated it in their language.

I am going to list 5 uncommon words that have been taken from the Arabic language that are not so common.

Arsenal

May be a surprise to the Arsenal football fans, but yes it has been taken from the arabic word dār aṣ-ṣināʕa (Dar as-sinaa) which means manufacturing shop.

From Arabic دار الصناعة (dār aṣ-ṣināʕa, “manufacturing shop”).

Zenith

Yes it’s taken from Arabic too

A transliteration of Arabic سمت (samt, “direction, path”) which is in itself a weak abbreviation of سمت الرأس (samt ar-ra’s, “direction of the head”).

Admiral

This is one for the military fans, the Muslims had conquered many parts of the World via Oceans and Seas with their mighty fleets.

From Arabic amir-ar-rahl (commander of the fleet), امير (amīr, “commander”) + -al. Later associated with admirable. Cognate to amir, emir.

Tariff

Tariff is used so much in the Mobile telecommunications industry, it is used to set how much money you pay them per month.

From Arabic تعاريف (taʕārif, “fees to be paid”).

Coffee

Yes we do like our coffee in the morning, but I bet you never ever thought that it was a borrowed word?

from Arabic قهوة (qahwa, “coffee”).

Thanks for reading and I hope you liked this post and please do let me know your thoughts via comments.