The influence of the language of Islam, Arabic is felt in the English language. Some words are borrowed directly from Arabic; but most come from via Spanish, Italian, French, Turkish, Persian, Urdu, Hebrew or Latin. This produces a lot of change.
The following is a brief list; the Oxford English Dictionary lists over 900.
admiral - ami:r-al-bahr 'ruler of the seas' - amara command
alcohol - al-koh''l
algebra - al-jebr 'reintegration'
apricot - al-burquq - from Greek
camel - jamal
candy - from qand 'cane sugar' - from a Dravidian language
carat - qi:ra:t 'small weight' - from Greek
coffee - قهوة qahwah (via Turkish kahve)
giraffe - zara:fa
jar - jarrah 'large earthen vase'
lemon - laymu:n - from Persian
magazine - makha:zin 'storehouses' - khazana store
mask - perhaps maskhara 'buffoon' - sakhira ridicule
mattress - matrah 'place where something is thrown, mat, cushion' - tarah'a throw
monsoon - mausim 'season' - wasama mark
mosque - مسجد masjid (via Italian)
orange - نرنجة na:ranj - from Sanskrit
safari - سفر safar "travel" via Swahili
sofa - s,uffah 'raised platform with cushions’
zero - s,ifr 'empty'
What We Speak
