Como una ayuda para seminarios, clases e investiga-ciones filológicas (y sociológicas, filosóficas, políticas...) de profesores y alumnos, ofrecemos al lector el presente listado de las 958 palabras que el Oxford English Dictionary[1] presenta bajo la rúbrica Arabic cuando en él se buscan etimologías. Naturalmente, no todas (ni mucho menos...) son palabras que de hecho se empleen en el cotidiano inglés, pero este listado puede ser útil como guión de búsqueda en el excelente CD de la Oxford University Press. En el CD, el lector encontrará además -en diversos casos- cuidadas citas de empleo de eses vocablos: de autores antiguos hasta los de hoy. Y, por supuesto, las definiciones de cada voz.

         Por razones de espacio, nos limitamos a los comentarios de etimología[2]. Como se verá, muchas de las palabras de ese listado son de procedencia árabe y, en todo caso, siempre tienen por lo menos alguna relación etimológica con el árabe. Nuestro intento es primordialmente didáctico y ha parecido oportuno facilitar las comparaciones añadiendo un listado (escueto) de las 1285 palabras asignadas como -de modo directo o derivado- de origen árabe (árabe, hispánico, argelino, clásico, dialectal, marroquí, persa, vulgar) por el Diccionario de la Real Academia (ed. electrónica de Espasa Calpe 1995).

Arabic en "Etymology Search" en el OED

aba, abba \Arab. `aba,.

abada \a. Pg. abada, the female rhinoceros; (...) Cf. Arab. abadat...

abaya \Arab. ‘abaya.

Abelmosk \ad. mod.L. abelmoschus, ad. Arab. abu'l-misk father, i.e. source, of musk.

Abkhaz \Prob. ad. Russ. abkhazskii, perh. ult. f. Arab.; the people's name for themselves is apshua.

Abuna \Eth. and Arab. Abu-na, pater noster, our father.

abutilon \mod.L. ad. Arab. aubutilun applied to this or an allied genus by Avicenna.

acequia \Sp., ad. Arab. saqiah.

acker \Prob. ad. Arab. fakka small change, coins; app. first among British and allied troops in Egypt.

acton \a. OFr. (12th c.) auqueton, later (15th, 16th c.) hocqueton, hocton, (...); a. Sp. alcoton, algodon ‘cotton, bombast,’ ad. Arab. alqutun, al-qutn the cotton. Obsol. since 16th c. exc. as a historical term...

adat \Malay, f. Arab. ,ada custom, customary law.

adeb \Arab.

admiral \a. OFr., ad. Arab. directly, or through med.L. or some other Rom. lang. The Arabic amir commander, (f. amara, to command, order,) commonly Englished ameer, emir, occurs in many titles followed by -al- ‘(of) the,’ as in amir-al-umara ruler of rulers, amir-al-ma commander of the water, amir-al-bahr, commander of the sea, the earliest of which is amir-al-muminin commander of the faithful, assumed by the Caliph Omar, and Latinized in many forms by the early chroniclers (see Amirmumnes in Du Cange). As amir is constantly followed by -al- in all such title amir-al was naturally assumed by Christian writers as a substantive word, and variously Latinized as amir-alis, -allus, -alius, -arius, OFr. amiral, -ail, -aill, -ayl, Pr. amirau, amirar, amiralh, Pg. amiralh...

adobe \Sp.; f. adob-ar to daub, to plaster:–late L. adobare; see adub. (Dozy derives the Sp. from Arab. at-tob, = al-tob, prob. a Coptic tob...

afreet, afrit, afrite \Arab. 'ifrit.

agal \Arab. ‘iqal bond, rope.

Aladdin \The name of the hero of Aladdin, or the Wonderful Lamp, a story from the Arabian Nights, subsequently popular as a pantomime, ad. Arab. ‘Ala 'al Din, lit. ‘nobility of faith’...

albacore \a. Pg. albacor, -bacora, -becora (Sp. albacora, Fr. albicore); f. Arab. al the + bukr, pl. bakarat, a young camel, a heifer, whence also Pg. bacoro a young pig...

alborak \Arab. al-buraq the splendid, lightning-flashing, f. baraqa to flash, lighten.

alcalde \Sp., ad. Arab. al-qadi the judge...

alcanna, alcana \a. Sp. alcana, alcaña, a. Arab. al-henna, name of the shrub...

alcarraza \Sp., ad. Arab. al-kurraz = al the + kurraz pitcher.

alcatras, -ace -ash \a. Sp., Pg. alcatraz, probably (as shown by Devic) a variant of Pg. alcatruz the bucket of a ‘noria,’ or water-raising wheel for irrigation, in Sp. arcaduz, alcaduz, a. Arab. al-qadus...

alcavala \Sp. alcabala, alcavala, ad. Arab. al-qabalah the tax, impost, f. qabala to receive.

alcayde \Sp. alcaide, formerly alcayde, the captain of a castle, ad. Arab. al-qa‘id the leader, f. qada to lead.

alcazar \Sp., a fortress, a castle, ad. Arab. al-qaçr = al the + qaçr in pl. a castle.

alchemy \a. OFr. alquimie, -emie, -kemie, -camie (also ar-), ad. med.L. alchimia (Pr. alkimia, Sp. alquimia, It. alchimia), a. Arab. al-kimia, i.e. al the + kimia, apparently a. Gr. khemía, found (c. 300) in the Decree of Diocletian against ‘the old writings of the Egyptians, which treat of the khemía (transmutation) of gold and silver’...

alchitran, alkitran \a. OFr. alketran, alquitran, a. Sp. alquitran, Pg. alcatrão (med.L. alquitranum, alchitrum, It. catrame, mod.Fr. goudran, -on), ad. Arab. al-qatran or al-qitran, the resin of fir-trees, pitch, tar; f. qatara to drop.

alcohol \a. med.L. alcohol, ad. Arab. al-koh'l ‘collyrium,’ the fine powder used to stain the eyelids, f. kahala, Heb. kakhal to stain, paint: see Ezekiel xxiii. 40...

alconde \Sp. alconde, comb. of Arabic al the + Sp. conde count, earl:–L. comitem...

Alcoran \a. (immed. from Fr. alcoran) Arab. al-qoran, the recitation, reading, f. qara‘a to recite, read.

alcornoco, alcornoque \Sp. alcornoque, f. Arab. al the + quern oco spongy oak (Diez).

alcove \a. Fr. alcôve, ad. Sp. Pg. alcova, alcoba, ad. Arab. al-qobbah, i.e. al the + qobbah a vault, a vaulted chamber; f. qubba to vault.

aldea, aldee \Pg. aldea (Fr. aldée), ad. Arab. al-day,a the farm, village.

alembic \a. Fr. alambic, ad. (ultimately) Arab. al-anbiq, i.e. al the + anbiq a still; ad. Gr. ambik a cup, beaker, the cap of a still...

alezan \Fr., ad. Sp. alazan, of doubtful origin; accord. to Devic, f. Arab. al the + hals-a fem. of ahlas a bay horse.

alfalfa \Sp. alfalfa ‘three-leaved grasse, clovers grasse’ (Minsheu), formerly alfalfez, identified by Pedro de Alcalá with Arab. alfaçfaçah ‘the best sort of fodder,’ Freytag.

alfaqui \Sp. alfaquí, ad. Arab. al-faqih, i.e. al the + faqih one skilled in divine things, f. faqiha to be wise.

alferes \a. OSp. and Pg. alféres (mod.Sp. alférez) ensign, ad. Arab. al-faris cavalier or knight, f. faras horse. Often made pl., with sing. alfere -a -o; cf. Fr. alfier, It. alfiere. (In later Sp. and It. also confused with alfir, see alfin, as name of the bishop in chess.)

alfin, alphin \a. OFr. alfin, aufin (med.L. alphinus, It. alfino, alfido), f. Sp. alfil (arfil), Pg. alfil (alfir), a. Arab. al-fil the elephant, Skr. pilu; the piece in chess called the alphin, and now the bishop, having had originally with the Indians, Chinese, and Persians the figure and name of an elephant.

alforge, alforja \Pg. alforge, Sp. alforja, according to Diez, ad. Arab. al-khorj the store, supply, provision, f. kharaja to proceed.

alfridary \Of obsc. orig.; cf. Arab. farada, ‘cernere,’ to cut into, define, decree, also to define beforehand a time, to fix on an hour; whence fariydah, n. a fixed and defined part...

Alfur \ad. Pg. alfuori ‘the outsider,’ f. Arab. al the + fuori outside:–L. foribus out of door, fores doors. (R.N. Cust.)

algarad \a. Fr. algarade, ad. Sp. algarada ‘a sudden assault with a great crie’ (Minsheu); f. med.L., Pg. and ? Sp. algara a raid (a. Arab. al-gharah, i.e. al the, gharah raid) + -ada.

algarroba \Sp. algarroba, ad. Arab. al-kharrubah, applied to the same.

algebra \a. (...) (also Sp. and med.L.), ad. Arab. al-jebr the redintegration or reunion of broken parts, f. jabara to reunite, redintegrate, consolidate, restore; hence, the surgical treatment of fractures, bone-setting. Also in phr. ,ilm al-jebr wa'l-muqabalah, i.e. ‘the science of redintegration and equation (opposition, comparison, collation),’ the Arabic name for algebraic computation. In this sense the first part of the Arabic title was taken into It. in 1202, as algèbra; the second part, almucabala, was used by some med.L. writers in the same sense. The 16th c. Eng. algeber (fancifully identified by early writers with the name of the Arabic chemist Geber) was either taken directly from Arab. or from Fr. algèbre; but the It. algèbra became the accepted form (accented 'algebra by 1663).

Algol \ad. Arab. al ghul (see ghoul).

algorism \a. OFr. augorisme, algorisme, augorime; ad. med.L. algorism-us (cf. Sp. gua-rismo cipher), f. Arab. al-Khowarazmi, the native of Khwarazm (Khiva), surname of the Arab mathematician Abu Ja'far Mohammed Ben Musa, who flourished early in the 9th c., and through the translation of whose work on Algebra, the Arabic numerals became generally known in Europe.(...) Algorisme being popularly reduced in OFr. to augori-me, English also shows two forms, the popular augrime, ending in agrim, agrum, and the learned algorism which passed through many pseudo-etymological perversions, in-cluding a recent algorithm in which it is learnedly confused with Gr. arithmós, ‘number.’

alguazil \Sp. alguazil (now alguacil), earlier forms of which in Pg. are al-vazil, al-vazir, ad. Arab. al-wazir, i.e. al the, wazir minister, officer, f. wazara to carry, carry on, = L. gerere.

Alhagi \mod.L. (Rauwolf 1537), ad. Arab. al-haj, used by Avicenna.

Alhaji \a. Hausa, ad. Arab.: see prec.

Al-Haj(j) \a. Arab. al-hajj: see al-2 and hadji.

Alhambra \ult. ad. Arab. alhamra‘ i.e. the red (house).

alhandal \a. Arab. al-handal.

alidad(e) \In mod. form, a. Fr. alidade, in earlier, a. med.L. alhidada (cf. Sp. alhidada, alidada), ad. Arab. al-,idadah, the revolving radius of a graduated circle; f. ,add, ,adid, ,adud, the humerus or upper arm (which revolves in its socket).

Alizari \Fr. and Sp., according to Devic, prob. ad. Arab. al the + ,açarah juice pressed out, extract, f. ,açara to press, extract...

alkahest \first used in med.L. by Paracelsus, and believed to have been arbitrarily invented by him with a form simulating Arabic. Used in the same forms in most of the European languages.

alkali \a. Fr. alcali, ad. (ultimately) Arab. al-qaliy, the ‘calcined ashes’ of the plants Salsola and Salicornia, f. qalay to fry, roast in a pan; hence transferred to the plants themselves so employed.

alkedavy \ad. (perh. indirectly) Arab. al-qadawi, i.e. al the + qadawi of the cadi or alcalde (sc. alqaçr the palace).

alkekengi \med.L. alkekengi f. Arab. al-kakanj, al-kakenj, i.e. al the + Pers. kakanj a ‘kind of medicinal resin from a tree growing in the mountains of Herat.’ Freytag. ‘Nightshade,’ Hopkins Pers. Dict. Cf. It. alcachengi, Sp. alquequenje...

alkermes \a. Fr. alkermès ad. (ult.) Arab. al-qirmiz, i.e. al the + qirmiz kermes.

Allah \a. Arab. allah the (true) God, contr. of al-ilah, i.e. al the + ilah god = Aram. elah, Heb. eloah.

alma, almah \a. Arab. ,almah, adj. fem. ‘learned, knowing’; f. ,alama ‘to know’ (because they have been instructed in music and dancing). Cf. Fr. almée.

almaçour, ur \a. OFr. almaçor, -ur, aumaçor, also aumansour, ad. (perh. indirectly) Arab. al-mançur, the (heaven-) defended, the august, f. naçara to defend.

almadia \ad. Arab. al-ma,diyah a ferry-boat, f. ,aday to cross; cf. It. almadia, Fr. almadie (also used in Eng.).

almagest \a. OFr. almageste, ad. (ult.) Arab. al-majisti, ad. (with article al the) Gr. megíste greatest (sc. syntaxis, composition); applied by the Arabs (and previously, it is inferred, in the Greek schools of Alexandria) to the great treatise of Ptolemy, Mathematiké syntaxis, in contradistinction to the elementary works studied before it.

almagra \a. Sp. almagra, almagre, a. Arab. al-maghrah red ochre.

almanac \Appears in med.L. as almanac(h in end of 13th c., and soon after (though it may have been earlier) in most of the Rom. langs., It. almanacco, Sp. almanaque, Fr. almanach, the immediate source of which was app. a Spanish Arabic al-manakh; Pedro de Alcala, in his Arabic-Castilian Vocabulista (1505), has ‘manakh, almanaque, calendario’; also ‘manah (probably meant for same word), relox del sol’ [sundial]. But the word occurs nowhere else as Arabic, has no etymon in the language, and its origin is uncertain.

almond \a. OFr. almande, alemande, earlier alemandre, alemandle (also amande, amandre); cf. Sp. almendra, Pg. amendoa, It. mandorla, mandola, Pr. and med.L. amandola; pointing to early Romanic amendla, -ola, -ala, from L. amygdala, a. Gr. amygdále...

almucantar \a. Fr. almicantarat or almucantarat, also med.L. almi-, almucantarath; ad. Arab. almuqantarat, pl. (with article) of muqantarah (cited by Golius in sense of ‘sundial’), deriv. of qantarah, a bridge, an arch.

almury \a. (ult.) Arab. al-mur‘i, i.e. al the + mur‘i indicator, agent-noun f. 4th form of ra‘ay to see.

almuten \Corrupt for almutaz (so in OFr.) a. Arab. al-mu,taz, i.e. al the + mu,taz prevailing, f. 8th form of ,azz to be powerful.

alnath \Arab. al-nath from nataha to butt, aim at with the horns.

alpaca \a. Sp. alpaca or al-paco, f. al Arab. article often prefixed to names + paco, prob. a native Peruvian name.

alphenic \a. Fr. alphenic (Sp. alfeñique, Pg. alfenim), according to Devic, corrupted from Arab. alfanid, i.e. al the + Pers. fanid refined sugar...

altincar \a. (ult.) Arab. al-tinkar (...)

aludel \a. Fr. aludel, in 13th c. alutel, ad. Arab. al-uthal (quoted by Dozy with this sense in 9th c.), i.e. al the + uthal, prob. variant of ithal pl. of athla utensil, apparatus.

Amal \a. Arab. amal hope; in full Harakat al-Amal Movement of Hope. Also said to represent an acronym (as unvocalized ‘ml) of afwaj al-muqawama al-Lubnaniyya detachments of the resistance of the Lebanese.

amalgam \a. Fr. amalgame (15th c. in Litt.), and, in the formerly common amalgama, of med.L., in which the word was in regular alchemical use in 13th c. Usually taken as a perversion of L. malagma (in Pliny and the physicians) a mollifying poultice or plaster, a. Gr. málagma (...) an emollient; or of an Arabic adaptation of málagma with prefixed al- (as in al-chemy, al-embic, etc.)...

amber \a. Fr. ambre, cogn. w. Pr. ambre, Pr. and It. ambra, Sp. ambar, med.L. ambar, -are, -er, -ra, -rum, a. Arab. ,anbar, ‘ambergris,’ to which the name orig. belonged; after-wards extended, through some confusion of the substances, to the fossil resin ‘amber.’...

ameer \a. Arab. (Pers. and Urdu) amir commander, f. amara to tell, order, command. As a historical Saracen title commonly spelt emir; the spelling amír, ameer, is used of modern Indian and Afghan rulers.

amice \ad. OFr. aumuce, aumusse (Pr. almussa, med.L. almussa, almussia, almucia, almucium, Sp. almucio, Pg. mursa, It. mozzetta dim. of mozza), of doubtful origin, but generally taken as ad. Ger. mutse, mütze, cap (Sc. mutch), with Arab. article al- prefixed, as in some other non-Arabic technical words.

amildar \a. Pers. and Urdu ,amal-dar, f. Arab. ,amal work + Pers. dar holding, holder (a common agential formative).

amulet \perh. in 15th c., a. Fr. amulette; but app. not in reg. use till after 1600, when adapted from L. amuletum (Pliny), a word of unknown origin, which has been conjecturally compared with mod.Arab. himalah, -at, lit. ‘a carrier, bearer,’ now applied inter alia to a shoulder-belt or cord frequently used to secure a small Koran or prayer-book on the breast, regarded as an ‘amulet’; but the history of this word shows that the resemblance between it and L. amuletum is purely fortuitous, and there exists no ground for ascribing the latter to an Arabic origin.

anatron \a. Sp. anatron, ad. Arab. an-natarûn, i.e. an = al the + natrûn.

anil \a. Fr. or Pg. anil = Sp. añil, ad. Arab. an-nil, i.e. al the + nil, Arab. and Pers. ad. Skr. nili indigo (and -plant), f. nila dark blue.

ante \a. Sp. ante, also dante, ad. Arab. lamt, some animal of the antelope or buffalo kind, ‘el Dante, que los Affricanos llaman Lamt’ (Marmol, in Dozy). Its skin is called in Arab. ad-daraca lamt, corrupt. in Sp. adaraga dante, adarga de ante, whence dante, ante, for the animal.

antimony \ad. med.L. antimonium, of unknown origin, used by Constantinus Africanus of Salerno (Chaucer's ‘cursed monk, daun Constantyn,’ Merch. T. 566), in end of 11th c., whence also in all the mod. langs. Prob., like other terms of alchemy, a corruption of some Arabic word, refashioned so as to wear a Gr. or L. aspect–perhaps, as has been suggested, of the Arabic name uthmud, othmod, itself, latinized as athimodium, atimodium, atimonium, antimonium...

apricot \orig. ad. Pg. albricoque or Sp. albaricoque, but subseq. assimilated to the cognate F. abricot (t mute). Cf. also It. albercocca, albicocca, OSp. albarcoque, a. Sp. Arab. al-borcoq(ue (P. de Alcala) for Arab. al-burquq, -birquq, i.e. al the + birquq...

araba \a. Arab. and Pers. arabah, a wheeled carriage.

Arabdom \f. Arab n. + -dom.

Arabic \a. OF. Arabic (13th c. in Litt.), ad. L. Arabicus.

Arabical \f. Arabic a. + -al1.

Arabican \f. Arabic + -an; cf. OF. arabican(t (Godefroy).

Arabicism \f. Arabic + -ism; cf. anglicism.

Arabism \mod. f. Arab + -ism; cf. F. arabisme.

Arabize \f. Arab + -ize.

Araby \a. OF. arabi, arrabi, Arabian, an Arab, Arab horse.

archegay \a. F. archegaie, archigaie, variant of arcigaye (...) Sp. azagaya, a. Arab. az-zaghayah, i.e. al the + zaghayah, Berber name of a javelin or dart: now called in Eng. (from Pg.) assagai, assegai...

ardeb \Arab. irdab, urdab.

argan \a. Arab. arjan, in Barbary pronounced argan.

argel \ad. Arab. harjil (Sharaf Dict. Med.).

ariel \a. Arab. aryil (var. of ayyil stag), applied in Syria to the Gazelle (Dozy).

arrack \Ultimately Arab., ,araq sweat, juice, esp. in ,araq at-tamr the (fermented) juice of the date...

arroba \Sp., ad. Arab. ar-rub, ‘the quarter,’ the weight being a quarter of the Spanish quintal...

arsenal \ (...) The original is the Arab. dar aççina,ah, workshop, factory (i.e. dar house, place of, al the, çina,ah, art, mechanical industry, f. çana,a to make, fabricate), which is directly represented by the Romance darsena, taracena; atarazana is prob. a Sp. Arab. form with article al-, ad- ...

artichoke \ad. north. It. articiocco (...) ad. or cogn. w. OSp. alcarchofa (mod. alcachofa, Pg. alcachofra), a. Sp. Arab. al-kharshofa (P. de Alcala) = Arab. al-kharshuf...

Askar \Arabic, ,askar army.

Askari \Arabic ,askari soldier.

assagai \a. F. azagaye (Cotgr.), or Pg. azagaia, Sp. azagaya, a. Arab. az-zaghayah, i.e. az-= al- the, zaghayah native Berber word, adopted in Arabic, and thence in Sp. and Pg.; adopted from the Portuguese in Africa by the English and French.

assassin \a. (...) Pg. assassino, Sp. asesino, med.L. assassinus (...); med.L. (pl.) assessini, ascisini, etc.), ad. Arab. hashshashin and hashishiyyin, pl. of hashshash and hashishiyy, lit. ‘a hashish-eater, one addicted to hashish,’ both forms being applied in Arabic to the Isma,ili sectarians, who used to intoxicate themselves with hashish or hemp, when preparing to dispatch some king or public man...

assogue \a. F. assogue (in same sense), a. Sp. azogue, Pg. azougue, quicksilver, ad. Sp. Arab. az-zaouga (P. de Alcala) = Arab. az-zauq, i.e. az = al the, zauq, ad. Pers. zhiwah quicksilver.

atabal \a. Sp. atabal, a. Arab. at-tabl, i.e. al the, tabl a drum.

athanor \ad. Arab. attannur, i.e. at = al the, tannur furnace...

atlas \a. (ultimately) Arab. atlas ‘smooth, bare,’ thence ‘smooth silk cloth,’ f. talasa to rub smooth, delete...

attar \a. Pers. ,atar perfume essence, ,atar-gul essence of roses, ad. Arab. ,itr, pl. ,utur, ,otor, aroma, f. ,atara to breathe perfume.

auge \a. OF. auge (also in It. and Sp.), a. Arab. awj, ‘height, top, summit, higher apsis of sun or planet.

aumil \Urdu (prop. Arab.) ,amil, operator, agent, spec. ‘revenue-collector,’ agent-noun f. Arab. ,amala to act, perform an office.

avania \ In common use in the Levant, but of uncertain language and origin; (...) Arab. and Turk. awani, also found as awari (Devic), and in Bocthor ,awan, and ,awania...

avives \a. F. avives (also vives), a. Sp. avivas, adivas, ad. Arab. az-zibah, with same meaning, lit. al-, the, zibah she-wolf.

ayatollah \a. Pers., ad. Arab. ‘ayatu-llah miraculous sign of God.

Azan \Arab. adan invitation.

azarole \a. F. azerole (written by Tournefort azarole), cogn. with Sp. acerolo, azarolla (...), ad. Arab. az-zu,rur, applied to the same fruit.

azimuth \a. F. azimut, cogn. with It. azzimutto, Pg. azimuth, ad. Arab. as-sumut, i.e. as = al the + sumut, pl of samt way, direction, a direction or point of the compass or horizon, and the arc extending from it to the zenith...

azoth \Corruption (ultimately) of Arab. az-zauq: see assogue. Cf. F. azoth, Sp. azogue.

azure \a. OF. azur, asur (11th c.), cogn. with Pr., OSp. azur, Pg., Sp. azul (...), adaptations of Arabic (al-)lazward, a. Pers. lajward, lazhward, lapis lazuli, blue colour.

Baath \ad. Arab. ba,th resurrection, renaissance.

babouche \a. F. babouche (cf. Sp. babucha), a. Arab. babush, ad. Pers. paposh a slipper...

badmash \Pers. and Urdu, f. Pers. bad evil + Arab. ma,ash means of livelihood.

bahar \Arab., bahar.

baksheesh \Pers. bakhshish present, f. bakhshi-dan to give; now used in Arabic, Turkish, and Urdu.

balas \a. OF. balais, balai, cogn. with (...) Sp. balax, med.L. balascus (Marco Polo), balascius, -asius, ad. Arab. balakhsh, f. Pers. Badakhshan, the district near Sarmacand where they are found.

banian \a. Pg. banian, prob. a. Arab. banyan (16th c.)...

Barbary \I. a. OF. barbarie, ad. L. barbaria, barbaries, ‘land of barbarians, barbarism,’ f. barbar-us barbarous. In II. ult f. Arab. Barbar, Berber, applied by the Arab geographers from ancient times to the natives of N. Africa, west and south of Egypt. According to some native lexicographers, of native origin, f. Arab. barbara ‘to talk noisily and con-fusedly’ (which is not derived from Gr. bárbaros); according to others, a foreign word...

barberry \ad. med.L. barbaris (in Promp. Parv.), berberis, F. berberis, 16th c. berbere, Sp. berberis, It. berberi, of unknown origin and history. (An Arabic barbaris, sometimes cited, is a transcription of the Latin employed by Arabian botanists ...).

barbican \a. F. barbacane, in 12th c. barbaquenne (= Pr., Sp. barbacana, Pg. barbacão, It. barbacane), of uncertain origin, perh. from Arab. or Pers...

bard \a. F. barde horse-armour, also ‘a long saddle for an ass or mule of canvas’ (Cotgr.); cf. It. barda horse-armour, also pack-saddle, and F. bardelle pack-saddle. These, and the existence of a dial. F. aubarde, seem to identify the word with Sp. and Pg. albarda pack-saddle, referred by Devic to Arab. al-barda,ah, i.e. al the + barda,ah ‘stuffed pack-saddle for ass or mule’...

bardash \a. F. bardache, cogn. with It. bardascia, Sp. bardajo, -axo; perh. ad. Arab. bardaj slave.

baroque \a. F. baroque adj., ad. Pg. barroco, Sp. barrueco, rough or imperfect pearl; of uncertain origin. (...) Pg. has besides barroco ‘rough or Scotch pearl,’ barroca ‘a gutter made by a water-flood’ Vieyra, ‘uneven stony ground’ (Diez), which native etymologists refer to Arab. buraq, pl. of burqah ‘hard earth mixed with stones, pebbly place’ (Freytag).

barracan \a. F. barracan, baragant (Cotgr.), mod. bouracan (= Pr. barracan, It. baracane, Sp. barragan, Pg. barregana), a. Arab. barrakan, or burrukan (Dozy), camlet, a cloak of camlet, f. Pers. barak ‘a blanket or garment of camel's hair.

barrack \a. F. baraque, ad. It. baracca or Sp. barraca ‘a souldier's tent, or a booth, or such like thing made of the sayle of a shippe, or such like stuffe’ (Minsheu 1617). Of uncertain origin: Diez thinks from barra bar, comparing, for the form, trab-acca from trab-s beam. Others have tried to find an Arabic or Celtic source.

basan \a. F. basane, (Cotgr. bazane, Palsgr. basanne), prob. ad. Pr. bazana, a. Sp. badana (med.L. bedana), ad. Arab. bitanah, lining, ‘inside’.

bausond \a. OF. bausant (...) a word of doubtful form and etymology (...) Conjectures (...) in Devic (Littré, Suppl.) who has pointed out the striking identity of meaning between bausant and Arab. ablaq, fem. balqa; but notwithstanding this, the forms of the Arabic and Romanic words cannot (at present at least) be phonetically reconciled.)

bedeguar \a. F. bédeguar, bédegar, ad. ult. Pers. (and Arab.) badawar, -ard, lit. ‘wind-brought,’ according to the Burhani Kati ‘a thorny bush with a white flower, resembling the thistle,.

Bedouin \a. F. bedouin, 12th c. OF. li bedowin (pl.), 13th c. beduins, beduyn (sing.), a. Arab. badawin, pl. of badawiy or badawiy a dweller in the desert, f. badw desert. First known to Europeans in Crusading times. The plural, being of most frequent use, was adapted in med.L. as beduini, bedewini...

Bedu \Arab. badw desert, Bedouins, badawi Bedouin: see Bedouin.

behen \a. med.L. behen (found in other mod. langs.), app. corruption of Arab. bahman, behmen, a kind of root, also a dog-rose.

bejel \Arab.

belleric \a. F. belléric, more correctly belliric, ad. (ultimately) Arab. balilaj, f. Pers. balilah.

ben \a. Arab. ban, ‘the ben-tree’ (Lane)...

benzoin \In 16th c. benjoin, a. F. benjoin (also benjaoy, quoted by Devic from Déterville Dict. Hist. Nat. 1816), repr. Sp. benjui, benjuy (Barbosa 1516), Pg. beijoim (Vasco da Gama 1498) (...) a. Arab. luban jawi ‘frankincense of Jawa’ (Sumatra), by which name benzoin is called by Ibn Batuta c1350 (ed. Paris IV. 228)...

Berberine \prop. pl. used as sing., f. berber + Arab. pl. suffix -in (cf. fellaheen, pl. of fellah).

beryl \a. OF. beryl, beril:–L. beryllus (...) prob. a foreign word; identified by Weber with Skr. vaidurya. Cf. also Arab. and Pers. ballur crystal.

Betelgeuse \Fr. Bételgeuse, f. Arab.

bezoar \Like mod.L. bezahar, bezaar, bezoar (bezardicum, lapis bezoarticus), Sp. bezaar, bezar, bezoar, F. bezahar, bezar, bezoar, bezoard, ad. Arab. bazahr or badizahr, ad. Per. pad-zahr counter-poison, antidote, bezoar stone; f. zahr poison.

bhang \A word widely spread in Eastern langs.: in Urdu, and various Indian langs., bhang, bhang, bhung; in Pers., bang (whence Arab. banj, benj).

bilk \Of uncertain origin (...). Blount's assertion that the word is Arabic is altogether erroneous...

bint \Arab. bint daughter.

bismillah \Arab. bi-'sm-illah (‘in the name of God.’)

bled \Fr., f. colloq. Arab. bled, representing (depending on context) balad vast stretch of country or bilad land, country.

Blighty \Contracted form, originating in the Indian army, of Hind. bilayati = wilayati foreign, and esp. European, f. wilayat prop. Arabic, inhabited country, dominion, district, vilayet, in Hind. esp. foreign country (cf. Arab. wali governor of a province, vali, wali).

Bohairic \f. Bohairah, Bahirah (Boheira, Beherah), the Arabic name of Lower Egypt (Arab. buhaira lake).

bonduc \a. F. bonduc, a. Arab. bunduq, now meaning ‘hazel-nut’, but formerly a foreign nut of some kind; prob. from Persian...

bonito \a. Sp. bonito, of doubtful origin: bonito adj. ‘pretty good, pretty’ is a native Sp. word; but the Sp. Academy derive the name of the fish from an Arabic bainith, which looks like an adaptation of the Spanish.

borax \ME. bo'ras, a. OF. boras (...), a. Arab. variously pronounced bauraq, buraq, boraq, prop. ‘natron’, but also ‘borax’: referred by the lexicons to the Arab. bwrq to glisten, but prob. ad. Pers. burah borax...

botargo \a. It. botargo, botarga (now buttarga), ad. Arab. butarkhah ‘preserved mullet-roe’, in Makrizi a.d. 1400 (in pl. butarikh, whence It. var. bottarica)...

bougie \a. F. bougie wax candle, from Bougie (Arab. Bijiyah), a town in Algeria which carried on a trade in wax.

Brazil \? a. Sp. (also Pg.) brasil or It. brasile; corresp. to F. brésil, Pr. bresil, brezilh, in OF. berzi, bresis, OIt. verzino, in med.L. ? brezellum, brasilium, bresillum, braxile: of unknown origin; perh. a corruption of an oriental name of the dye-wood originally so called. On the discovery of an allied species, also yielding a dye, in South America, the territory where it grew was called terra de brasil, ‘red-dye-wood land’, afterwards abbreviated to Brasil ‘Brazil’. Brazil-wood was thus not named from the country, but the converse was the case. Formerly pronounced in Eng. 'brazil, as shown by rimes and spellings. Conjectural etymologies are F. briser to break, brésiller to crumble (as if the wood arrived in a broken state); also F. braise, Sp. brasa ‘glowing coal’ (from its colour); also Arab. wars saffron, in some parts perhaps pronounced vars, vers (cf. It. verzino). See Diez, Littré.

brinjal \Anglo-Indian adaptation of Pg. bringella, bringiela, earlier beringela = Sp. berengena, al-berengena, ad. Arabic (al)-badhinjan...

buckram \Found in most of the European langs. between 12th and 15th c.; cf. OF. boquerant (12th c.), (...) Pr. bocaran, Cat. bocaram (Diez), Sp. bucaran, It. bucherame (in Boccaccio 14th c.). Reiske (in Constantin. Porphyrog. ed. Niebuhr II. 530) proposes Arab. abu qiram ‘pannus cum intextis figuris’, but he does not say where he found this compound; the simple qiram is of doubtful meaning...

bulbul \a. (through Pers.) Arab. bulbul.

bunk \Cf. bunk ‘nascaptha, an odoriferous root’, given as Arabic in Johnson's Pers.-Ar.-Eng. Dict., 1852; not in Freytag or Lane.

burgoo \ad. Arab. burghul cooked, parched, and crushed wheat, ultimately ad. Turk. bulgur: see bulgur, burg(h)ul.

burka \Hind. (from Arabic) burqa‘.

burnous \a. F. burnous, a. Arab. burnus.

buskin \A word existing in many European langs.: known in Eng. since 16th c. Cf. Fr. brousequin (16th c.), early mod.Du. brozeken (now broosken), Sp. borceguí, formerly also boszegui, Pg. borzeguim (Dozy cites as earlier forms morsequill, mosequin) (...) The appearance of the Sp. and Pg. words suggests an oriental origin, but the Arabic etymology proposed by Dozy is far-fetched and untenable.

byssus \a. L. byssus, (...) ad. Heb. buts, applied to ‘the finest and most precious stuffs, as worn by kings, priests, and persons of high rank or honour’ (Gesenius), transl. in Bible of 1611 ‘fine linen’, f. root buts, Arab. bad to be white, to surpass in whiteness. Originally therefore a fibre or fabric distinguished for its whiteness.

Caaba \Arab. ka,bah square (or cubical) house.

cabaan \a. Arab. and Pers. qaba, a man's outer tunic.

cabeer \Arab. kabir, lit. ‘big, gros’.

cabob \Arab. kabab (also in Pers. and Urdu), in same sense.

cadi \a. Arab. qadi judge, f. qada(y to judge. (Whence, with al-, Sp. alcalde.)

cafard \F. cafard, caphard, of doubtful origin: some have proposed to identify it with Cat. cafre infidel, Sp., Pg. cafre cruel, which are app. ad. Arab. kafir...

cafre \ad. Arab. kafir infidel, impious wretch, one who does not recognize the blessings of God, f. kafara to cover up, conceal, deny.

cafila \Arab. qafilah caravan, marching company.

calabash \a. F. calebasse, calabace, Cotgr.) ad. Sp. calabaça, calabaza gourd, pumpkin (...). The ultimate source was perh. the Persian kharbuz, or kharbuza, also kharpuza, and kharbuza, ‘melon’, generally ‘marsh-melon’, occasionally ‘water-melon’, whence Arabic khirbiz ‘melon’, and kirbiz ‘pumpkin, gourd (...).

calfret \ad. F. calfrete-r (Cotgr.), calfater, calfeutrer to caulk (a ship). The word occurs also as It. calafatare, Sp. calafatear, -fetear; usually believed to be f. Arab. qalafa, in 2nd conjugation qallafa to caulk a ship with palm-tree fibre...

calibre \a. F. calibre (qualibre in Cotgr. 1611) = It. calibro, Sp. calibre (OSp. also calibo, Diez) of uncertain origin; the Arab. qalib ‘mould for casting metal’, or some cognate derivative of qalaba to turn, has been suggested as the source.

calico \In 16­17th c. also calicut, from the name of the Indian city (sense 1) (...) in Ara-bic Qaliqut, med.L. (Conti) Collicuthia, Pg. Qualecut (V. de Gama), Calecut (Camoens).

calin \Fr.: a. Pg. calaim, a. Arab. qala,i; the ultimate derivation is disputed.

caliph \ME. califfe, caliphe, etc., a. F. caliphe, calife, ad. med.L. calipha, ad. Arab. kha-lifah, successor (f. khalafa to succeed, be behind), assumed by Abu-bekr after the death of Muhammad. Later forms attach themselves more directly to the Arabic: orientalists now favour Khalîf...

camaca \a. OF. camocas (kamoukas in Froissart) ‘silk stuff approaching satin’ (Godef.), or med.L. camoca, camucum (...) ad. Arab. kamkha or kimkha, which Devic thinks originally a Chinese word, and ultimately identical with OF. canque.

camel \Late OE. camel, camell, ad. L. camel-us (-ellus) (...) perh. f. vb. gamal, Arab. jamala to bear (Gesenius).

camise \Arab. qamiç under-tunic, shirt; occurring in the Koran, but generally thought to be ad. L. camisia, camisa...

camlet \app. immediately from French: Littré cites chamelot 13th c. (...). The ultimate origin is obscure; at the earliest known date the word was associated (by Europeans) with camel, as if stuff made of camel's hair; but there is reason to think it was originally the Arabic khamlat, from khaml; Marco Polo (ed. Yule) I. 248 (Skeat)...

camphor \a. F. camfre, camphre = med.L., Pr., and Pg. camphora, It. canfora, Sp. and Pg. alcanfor (...) a. Arab. kafur, in Old Pers. kapur....

canaut \Urdu from Arab. qanat (Yule).

candy \a. F. candi in sucre candi; cf. It. zucchero candi (found, according to Littré, in an It. author of 1310), Sp. azucar cande, Pg. assúcar candi, med.L. saccharum candi; a. Arab., orig. Pers. qand sugar, the crystallized juice of the sugar-cane (whence Arab. qandah candy, qandi candied)...

cane \ME. canne, cane, a. OF. cane, later canne (= Pr. cana, Sp. caña, It. canna) (...) perh. from Semitic: cf. Heb. qaneh, Arab. qanah reed, cane...

caphar \In F. caphar, a. Arab. khafarah defence, premium for defence or protection, f. khafara to protect, patronize.

carafe \a. F. carafe = It. caraffa (Neapol. carrafa a measure of liquids), Sp. and Pg. garrafa, Sicil. carrabba. According to Littré identified by Mohl with Pers. qarabah ‘a large flagon’ (see carboy); but Dozy refers it to Arabic gharafa to draw or lift water: cf. the derivatives ghuruf little cup, ghiraf a great and full measure of dry things, gharraf having much water, ghirafah a draught, etc., no one of which however exactly answers to the Romanic forms.

caramel \a. F. caramel, ad. Sp. (It., Pg.) caramelo, of uncertain origin. Scheler suggests that the Sp. represents L. calamellus little tube, in reference to its tubular form; Mahn thinks it from med.L. cannamella sugar-cane: an Arabic source is conjectured by Littré.

carat \a. F. carat, ad. It. carato: cf. Sp. and Pg. quilate, earlier quirate, a. Arab. qirat (and qirrat) ‘weight of 4 grains’...

caratch \Arab. kharaj tribute.

caraway \From med.L. carui, or some allied Romanic form: cf. (...) OSp. alcaravea, alcarahueya, Pg. alcaravia, alcorovia, a. Arab. al-karawiya or -karwiya...

carcass, carcase \ (...) It is to be noted however that OF. carcois, med.L. carcosium, must app. be separated from OF. tarquais quiver, evidently ad. Pers. (Arab., Turk. tar-kash quiver, arrow-case), although some confusion of the two words may be suspected in mod.F. carquois (since 15th c.), It. carcasso and turcasso, Pg. carcaz quiver...

carmine \a. F. or Sp. carmin, in med.L. carmin-us, contracted from carmesin-us, f. Sp. carmesí crimson, a. Arab. qirmazi ‘crimson’, f. qirmiz, kermes, alkermes, the scarlet grain insect.

carob \a. (...) Sp. garrobo, algarrobo, a. Arab. (al) kharrubah, in Pers. khirnub, ‘bean-pods, carobs’.

caroteel \possibly ad. Arab. qirtal, collective of qirtalat, qartillat ass's burden, basket, fruit-basket.

carthamus \mod.L. carthamus (in F. carthame), ad. Arab. qartum, qirtim, in same sense.

cassab \Hind., a. Arab. qaççab butcher.

cassock \a. F. casaque ‘a cassocke, mandilion, long coat’, 16th c. in Littré, (corresp. to Sp. and Pg. casaca ‘a souldiers cassocke, a frock, a horsemans coat’(...)). Lagarde (Götting. Gelehrte Anzeiger, 15 Apr. 1887, 238) maintains that F. casaque is a back-formation from casaquin (by incorrectly viewing the latter as a dimin. form), and that casaquin, It. casacchino, was a corruption of Arab. kazagand, ad. Pers. kazhagand, a padded jerkin, or acton, f. kazh = kaj raw silk, silk floss + agand stuffed...

catur \Original language unknown: Portuguese writers call them catures: Capt. Burton has suggested identity with Arab. ‘katireh, a small craft,’ but this seems phonetically unlikely; moreover Jal identifies the catur of Calicut with the Arab. almadia...

cebratane \ad. Sp. cebratana, cerbatana of same meaning, app. ad. Arab. (and Pers.) zabatana, sabatana blowing tube for shooting birds (for which Piedro de Alcala has zarbatana, Dozy); also found in Pg. sarabatana, It. cerbottana, Fr. sarbatane, sarbacane.

ceterach \a. med.L. ceterach (...); the origin has been variously sought in Arabic and in Celtic.

chai \See cha; perh. borrowed afresh from Russian or Arabic.

chebec \a. F. chebec; (...) Sp. jabeque, OSp. xabeque, -veque, Pg. xabeco, -veco, OPg. enxabeque, It. sciabecco, zambecco, stambecco, mod.Arab. shabbak, shobbak...

chechia \Fr. chéchia, ad. Maghribi Arab. shashiya, f. Arab. Shash, name of a town in Transoxiana.

check \ME. chek, chak, aphetic f. eschek, -chak, a. OF. eschec, -ek, -eq, eschac, in ONF. eskec, escac, Pr. escac, It. scacco ‘check’ in chess, med.L. scaccus, scachus; cf. also the parallel forms Sp. jaque, OSP. xaque ‘check’, Pg. xaque ‘check’ and ‘shah’ (of Persia). Adapted form (immed. from Arabic) of Pers. shah ‘king’, also the ‘King’ in chess; in this specific sense the Pers. word was taken into Arabic, where arose the phrase shah mat(a, ‘the King is dead’, i.e. can make no further move: see checkmate...

checkmate \ME. chek mat(e chekmat(e, aphetic f. OF. eschec mat, eschec et mat, Pr. escat mat, It. scaccomatto, Sp. jaque y mate, OSp. xaquimate, OSp. and Pg. xaque mate, ad. Arabic shah-mat(a the king is dead: see check n.1

cheese \Of doubtful origin; but prob. a. Pers. and Urdu chiz ‘thing’. Yule says such expressions used to be common among young Anglo-Indians as ‘My new Arab is the real chiz’, i.e. ‘the real thing’.

chelingo \In mod.F. chelingue; quoted by Yule from Valentijn as chialeng, and by him identified with Arabic shalandi, which is app. the mediæval chelandium (...) (But this is not certain.)

chemist \16th c. chimist, a. F. chimiste, ad. mod.L. chimista, chymista, used instead of the earlier alchimista, after the latter began to be analysed, and the Arabic al- separated from the rest of the word...

chess \ME. ches, chess, aphetic f. AF. and OF. eschès (OF. also eschecs, eschas, eschax, escas, mod.F. échecs = échè-z) ‘chequers, chess’, pl. of eschec (escac, etc.) check n.1 So med.L. had scacci, scaci, scachi, It. scacchi, Pr. escacos, all plurals, as name of the game; Sp. and Pg., on the other hand, have preserved in Sp. ajedrez, Pg. xadrez, the Arabic name, shât-ranj, from OPers. chatrang, Skr. chaturanga lit. ‘the four angas or members of an army (elephants, horses, chariots, foot-soldiers)’. Cf. check n.1

ciclatoun \a. OF. ciclaton, (...) in Sp. ciclaton, Pr. sisclato (Diez), also MHG. ciclât, ziklât, siglât, and siklatîn. The source of the names found in most European langs. in the Middle Ages, appears to have been Arabic (orig. Pers.) siqilatun, also siqilat, siqalat, saqalat, (acc. to Mr. J. Platts) from siqillat, siqallat, for saqirlat, saqarlat, Arabicized form of Pers. sakarlat, the same word which has given scarlet...

Cid \Sp. cid chief, commander, a. Arab. sayyid, lord.

cigar \ad. Sp. cigarro: in F. cigare. The Spanish word appears not to be from any lang. of W. Indies. (...) The name cigarral applied to a kind of pleasure-garden and summer-house (as in the cigarrales of Toledo), which has sometimes been pressed into service in discussing the etymology, is said by Barcia, after P. Guadio, to be related neither to cigarra nor cigarro, but to be of Arabic origin meaning ‘little house’ (casa pequeña). It is said however to be applied in Cuba to a tobacco garden or nursery.

cipher \a. OF. cyfre, cyffre (mod.F. chiffre) = Sp. Pg. It. cifra, med.L. cifra, ciphra, f. Arab. çifr the arithmetical symbol ‘zero’ or ‘nought’ (...), a subst. use of the adj. çifr ‘empty, void’, f. çafara to be empty...

civet \a. F. civette (...), all originating in the Arab. name zabad, zubad. (...) See also zibet. The Arabic lexicographers connect the word with zabada to cream, foam, zubd froth, cream, zubbad cream, etc., as if orig. applied to the secretion...

coffee \ad. Arab. qahwah, in Turkish pronounced kahveh, the name of the infusion or beverage; said by Arab lexicographers to have originally meant ‘wine’ or some kind of wine, and to be a derivative of a vb.-root qahiya ‘to have no appetite.’...

coffle \ad. Arab. qafilah caravan, travelling company; see cafila.

cohob \Origin uncertain: it may be the root of next word, or merely a contraction of cohobation. An Arabic derivation is suspected. There is a Semitic root ka,ab, which has in Ethiopic the sense ‘second’, with a deriv. vb. ‘to double, repeat’; this may have occurred in a vulgar Arabic dialect...

colcothar \So in F., Pg. and med.L. (also calcatar), Sp. colcotar, ad. Arab. qolqotar...

Copt \Cf. F. copte, mod.L. Coptus, Cophtus ad. Arab. quft, qift collective, ‘the Copts’, with relative adj. qufti, qifti Coptic, also qubt, qibt with relative adj. qubti, qibti, most prob. ad. Coptic gyptios, kyptaios, repr. Gr. Aigyptios Egyptian. The Arabic u is in some places pronounced o, and Arabic having no p is obliged to substitute f or b: to the former is owing the early Cophtus...

cork \Cf. Sp. corcha, corche in same sense; but 15th c. corke, with 16th c. Du. kork, kurk, Ger. kork, appears to represent OSp. alcorque ‘a corke shooe, a pantofle’ (Minsheu), in which sense corke is cited in 1463 (sense 2); (...) Alcorque, known in Sp. of date 1458, was immediately from Sp. Arabic (Covarrubias 1611 has ‘dicho en Arabigo corque’); but its origin is uncertain...

coss \a. obs. F. cosse, ad. It. cosa thing, a translation of Arab. shai ‘thing’, the term applied to the unknown quantity (or x) of an equation, etc.

cossid \a. Arab. (and Pers.) qaçid courier.

cost \OE. cost, ad. L. costum (costos) (...) Arab. qust, Skr. kustha (Yule), the thick aromatic root of the composite plant...

cotton \ME. coton, cotoun, a. F. coton = Pr. coton, It. cotone, OSp. coton, Pg. cotão, a. Arab. qutn, qutun, in Sp. Arab. qoton. From the Arab. with prefixed article, alqoton, Sp. alcoton, algodon, comes acton, q.v.

couscous \a. F. couscous (also improp. couscou, couscoussou), a. Arab. kuskus, f. kaskasa to pound or bruise small.

cowle \a. Arab. qaul word, promise, bargain, compact, which ‘has become technical in the Indian vernaculars, owing to the prevalence of Mohammedan Law’ (Yule).

cramoisy \a. early It. cremesí and OF. crameisi, later cramoisi = Sp. carmesí, Pg. carmezim; the original type is seen in It. chermesí, chermizí, a. Arab. qirmazi of or belonging to the qirmiz, kermes or alkermes, the Scarlet Grain insect: see crimson...

crimson \The 15th c. cremesin(e corresponds exactly to early Sp. cremesin (cited 1403­12), early It. cremesino and med.L. cremesinus, variants (by metathesis of r) of med.L. kermesinus, carmesinus, It. chermesino, carmesino, Sp. carmesin (16th c.), f. It. chermisí, cremesí, Sp. carmesí (cited 1422), (a. Arab. qermazi, qirmazi: see cramoisy) + suffix -ino...

crocus \a. L. crocus, a. Gr. krócos the crocus, and its product saffron: app. of Semitic origin; cf. Heb. karkom, crocus, saffron, Arab. kurkum, saffron, turmeric.

cubeb \a. Fr. cubèbe (14th c. in Littré) = Pr., Sp., It. and med.L. cubeba, ad. Arab. kababah. In OF. also quibibes (in W. de Biblesworth), quybybes, cucubes (in MSS. of Mandeville, 14th c.), whence the ME. variants.

cumin \OE. cymen (:–cumin), a. L. cumin-um (cym-) (...), Sp., Pg. comino, (...) is supposed to have been a foreign word, cognate in origin with the Semitic names, Heb. kammôn, Arab. kammûn, and their cognates.

curcuma \med. or mod.L. ad. Arab. kurkum saffron, turmeric: see crocus.

cuttanee \Urdu and Pers. kattani, f. Arab. kattan flax.

dabuh \Arab. dabu, hyæna = Heb. tsabua, Jer. xii. 9.

dahabeeyah \Arab. dhahabiyah lit. ‘the golden’, f. dhahab gold: name of the gilded state barge of the Muslim rulers of Egypt.

daman \From the Arabic name daman israil, sheep or lamb of Israel.

Damascus \L. Damascus, Gr. Damaskós, from Semitic: cf. Heb. Dammeseq, Arab. Di-mashq, Dimeshq; thence Heb. d'meseq or d'mesheq, transl. ‘silken’ in Amos iii. 12 (Rev. V.).

deloul \colloq. Arab. dhelul, Arab. dhalul, lit. obedient.

demijohn \In F. dame-jeanne (1694 Th. Corneille dame-jane, 1701 Furetière Dame Jeanne, lit. ‘Dame Jane’); so Sp. dama-juana (as if Dama Juana); mod.Pr., in different dialects, dama-jana, (...) mod. Arabic damajanah, damajanah, etc. in 19th c. lexicons...

demon \Arab., the demon: see ghoul

Deneb \ad. Arab. dhanab (ad-dajaja) (hen's) tail.

dervish \a. Pers. darvesh, darvish poor, a religious mendicant, a friar, in Arab. darwesh, darwish, Turkish dervish, the latter being the immediate source of the European forms: (..) Sp. derviche (...). (The native Arabic equivalent is faqir poor, fakir.)

dewan \Arab. and Pers. diwan, divan, Pers. formerly devan, the same word as divan, of which an early sense was ‘register’...

dhow \Original language unknown; now in use all round the coast of the Arabian Sea from Western India to E. Africa, also on Lake Nyanza. The Marathi form is daw, and the word exists in mod. Arabic as daw (Johnson 1852)...

dibs \colloq. Arab. debs = Heb. debash honey, wine syrup.

dieb \a. Arab. dhib, ‘wolf’, also in some districts ‘jackal’...

dinar \Arab. and Pers. dinar...

dirhem \Arab. dirham, dirhim, ad. L. drachma...

diss \a. Arab. dis, the native name.

divan \A word originally Persian, devan, now diwan, in Arabic pronounced diwan, diwan; in Turkish divan, whence in many European langs., It. divano, Sp., Pg., F. divan. Originally, in early use, a brochure, or fascicle of written leaves or sheets, hence a collection of poems, also a muster-roll or register (...) Another European form, older than divan, and app. directly from Arabic, is It. dovana, doana, now dogana, F. douane (in 15th c. douwaine), custom-house: see douane.

doronicum \mod.L., ad. mod. Gr. doroneíkon, ad. Arab. daranaj, darunaj. Adopted by Linnæus in his Systema Naturæ (1735) as the name of a genus.

douane \Fr.; = It. doana, dogana, lingua Franca douana, from Arabic: see divan.

douar \a. Arab. duar, in F. douar.

doum \Arab. daum, dum.

dragoman \a. F. dragoman, drogman, in OF. drugemen = Sp. dragoman (...) ad. OArab. targuman, now tarjuman, tarjaman, turjuman, interpreter, f. targama, tarjama to interpret = Chaldee targem, (whence targum). From 14th c. commonly treated as a compound of Eng. man with pl. dragomen; in 19th c. more frequently dragomans. The variants are due to the varying vocalization of the Arabic word, and the passage of Old Arabic g into j...

drub \Appears first after 1600; all the early instances, before Hudibras, 1663, are from travellers in the Orient, and refer to the bastinado. Hence, in the absence of any other tenable suggestion, it may be conjectured to represent Arabic daraba to beat, to bastinado, vbl. n. darb beating, a blow, a drub. There are difficulties...

Druse \ad. Arab. Duruz, a form of plural used for names of nations...

dubba \Arab., Pers., and Urdu dabbah vessel made of raw skins.

dufter \Arab., Pers., Urdu daftar record, register...

dulcarnon \a. med.L. dulcarnon, corrupted from Arabic dhu'lqarnayn two-horned, bicornis, cornutus; lit. ‘lord or possessor of the two horns’.

dura mater \Med.L. = hard mother; literal translation of the Arabic umm al-galidah or umm al-jafiyah (Bocthor) in the same sense, in accordance with the Arabic use of ‘father’, ‘mother’, ‘son’, etc. to indicate relations between things.

durra \Arabic dhurah, dhurrah.

elemi \In Fr. élémi, It., Sp. elemi, Pg. gumileme; of unknown (perhaps oriental) etymology; the Arab. name lami, cited by some writers, appears, according to Devic, to be known only as a very modern word...

elixir \a. med.L. elixir (cf. Fr. élixir, It. elissire, Sp. elíxir, Pg. elexir), ad. Arab. al-iksir (= sense 1), prob. ad. late Gr. xérion ‘desiccative powder for wounds’.

emblic \ad. med.L. emblica, -icus, ad. Ar. amlaj a. Pers. amleh, cf. Skr. amalaka of same meaning.

emir \a. Arab. amir, commander. See ameer, admiral.

empty \rendering Arab. Ruba el-Khali

enam \Pers. (Arab.) in,am, lit. ‘favour’, f. na,ama to be happy, in 4th conj. an,ama to favour, bless.

essera \med.L. essera, essere, ad. Arab. shara, with the art. ash-shara: see Avicenna Canon iv. iii. cap. 13 in the orig. and in the Lat. version of 1483. Cf. Fr. essère.

eyalet \Turk. èyalet, a. Arab. iyalah (-at), noun of action f. al to preside.

eye \transl. of mod.L. oculus mundi: cf. the Arab. name ,ain ashshams ‘eye of the sun’.

ezan\Arab. adhan.

faki \Arab. faqih one learned in the law.

fakir \a. Arab. faqir lit. ‘poor, poor man’; some of the early forms may be due to the pl. fuqara.

false \tr. Arab. çubh kadhib

fana \a. Arab. fana‘.

fardel \a. OF. fardel (later fardeau), dim. of farde burden, cognate with Sp., Pg. fardo. It has been suggested that the source of the Rom. word is Arab. fardah...

Farsi \a. Pers., f. Fars, the Arabic name for the region of Pars in Iran: see Parsee and Persian a. and n.

Fatiha \Arab. fatiha, fatha opening, f. fataha to open.

Fatimite \f. Arab. Fatima + -ite1.

faufel \a. Arab. faufel.

fedayeen \Colloq. Arab. fida‘iyin, pl. of Class. Arab. fida‘i one who undertakes perilous adventures.

feddan \Arab. fadán, faddán a yoke of oxen; an acre.

felafel \ad. Arab. falafil.

fellagha \ad. colloq. Arab. fallaga, pl. of fallag bandit, robber.

fellah \a. Arab. fellah husbandman, f. falaha to till the soil.

felucca \a. It. felu(c)ca, Fr. felouque, Sp. faluca, Pg. falua, mod.Arab. falukah, also fulaikah. Devic considers it to be of Arabic formation, cognate with Arab. fulk ship, f. root falaka to be round.

fen \fen, in L. version of Avicenna, ad. Arab. fann species, class.

fennec \Arab. fenek, a name vaguely applied to various fur-bearing animals.

ferash \Urdu from Arab. farrash, f. farasha to spread.

Feringhee \An oriental adoption of frank, with Arab. ethnic suffix -i; in Arab. faranji, in Pers. farangi.

fers \a. OF. fierce, fierche, fierge (in med.L. fercia, farzia), ad. (ultimately) Pers. ferzen, Arab. firzan, also ferz. The Pers. word means ‘wise man’, ‘counsellor’.

fetwa \Arab. fetwa (pronounced by the Turks fetfa), f. fata, in 4th conj. to instruct by a legal decision (pr. pple. mufti mufti).

fingan \Arab. finjan, in Egypt fingan.

fistic \ad. (through med.L. fisticum) Arab. fistuq, fustuq, -aq, a. Pers. pistah, whence ultimately pistachio.

fluce \Arab. fulus, pl. of fals name of a small copper coin.

Formalhaut \Arab. fumu 'l-haut mouth of the fish, Sp. fomahant.

fonda \Sp. fonda from Arab.: see fonduk.

fondaco \It., ad. Arab.; see fonduk.

fonduk \Arab. funduq an inn...

foujdar \Pers. faujdar f. Arab. fauj troop.

frasilah \mod.Arab. farsalah, pl. farasulah; by some scholars thought to be of Romanic origin: cf. parcel.

fustet \a. F. fustet, ad. Pr. fustet = Sp. fustete, an etymologizing corruption (as if dim. of Pr. fust, Sp. fuste stick, piece of wood) of the Arab. source of fustic.

fustic \(..) a. Sp. fustoc, a. Arab. fustuq, ad. Gr. pistáke pistachio...

futah \ad. Arab. futa cloth used as a waist-wrapper.

gable \ (...) With different sense, but agreeing in root, grade, and suffix, are OHG. gebal head, gibilla crown of the head, app. cognate with Gr. kefalé head (OAr. root ghebh)...

gaiassa \Arab. qayyasa.

galabiya \= Arab. jallabiya, pop. equivalent of jilbab.

galingale \ad. OF. galingal (garingal), a. Arab. khalanjan or khaulinjan, said to be a. (through Pers.) Chinese Ko-liang-kiang, lit. ‘mild ginger from Ko,’ a prefecture in the province of Canton...

gamash \a. F. gamache (now only dial.) (...) identified by Dozy with Sp. guadamaci, Pg. guadamecim (now obsolete), a kind of leather, believed to be a. Arab. ghadamasi, f. the name of Ghadamas in Tripoli, where a highly esteemed kind of leather was made. In some of the forms the ending has evidently been assimilated to shoes.

gandoura \ad. Algerian Arab. gandura, classical Arab. qandura.

garble \App. originally a term of Mediterranean commerce, ad. It. garbellare, ad. Arab. gharbala (also karbala) to sift, select, related to ghirbal, kirbal, sieve; cf. Sp. garbillare to sift corn, garbillo corn-sieve...

Garshuni \ad. Arab. karshuni.

gazelle \a. F. gazelle (...) = Sp. gacela, gacele, gacel, Pg. gazella, It. gazzella, ad. Arab. ghazal, which prob. passed first into Sp. and thence to the other Rom. tongues.

gehena \a. Eccl. Lat. gehenna, a. Hellenistic Gr. geenna, rendered ‘hell’ in the Eng. N.T. (...). The Gr. was ad. post-Biblical Heb. geihinnom hell, place of fiery torment for the dead (whence Arab. jahannam)...

Gelalean \f. Arab. Jalal ad-din.

genet \a. OF. gen(n)ete, -ette, jen(n)ette (F. genette) = Sp. and Pg. gineta, med.L. geneta (mod.L. genetta), a. Arab. jarnait.

genie \The word génie was adopted by the Fr. translators of the Arabian Nights as the rendering of the Arab. word which it resembled in sound and in sense. In Eng. genie has been commonly used in the sing. and genii (see genius 2) in the plural.

gerfaunt \app. alteration of Arab. zarafah giraffe, assimilated to elefaunt.

get \a. ON. geta (gat, gátum, getenn) to get, obtain, to beget, also, to guess (...) The OAr. root ghed, ghod ‘to seize’, ‘take hold of’, is found also in L. præda (:–præ-heda) booty, prædium an estate, perh. also in hedera ivy (literally the ‘clinger’)...

ghaffir \ad. Arab. ghafir.

ghawazee \ad. Arab. ghawazi, pl. of ghazeeyeh.

ghazal \Pers., Arab. ghazal.

ghazeeyeh \ad. Arab. ghaziya.

Ghazi \Arab. ghazi, pr. pple. of ghaza to fight.

gherkin \(...) The ultimate origin is unknown. Arabic has ,ajur cucumber, but Lane regards this as adopted from Gr. The Persian angur is sometimes given as the etymon, but it means ‘a grape’.

gholam \Arab.

ghoul \a. Arab. ghul, from a verbal root meaning ‘to seize’.

gibli \ad. Arab. kibli south wind.

gimbri \ad. Arab. gunbri.

ginger \(...) Sp. gengibre, agengibre, Pg. gengivre, It. zenzevero, gengero, gengiovo. Other forms of this widely diffused word are Arab. zanjabil (already in the Koran)...

gingili \a. Hindi and Mahratta jinjali, according to Yule prob. of European introduction; ultimately repr. Arab. juljulan, in Spanish Arab. jonjolin, whence (with Arab. article) Sp. aljonjoli, It. giuggiolino, Pg. girgelim...

giraffe \Ultimately ad. Arab. zarafah, whence also It. giraffa, Sp. and Pg. girafa...

girba \ad. Arab. qirba waterskin.

goat \Com. Teut.: OE. gát fem. = MDu. geit, geet(e, Du. geit (obs. geite, geyte) (...) OAr. ghaid-...

goum \Fr., ad. Arab. gum, dial. var. of qaum band, troop.

grab \a. Arab. gurab, lit. ‘raven’, applied to a kind of galley.

gufa \Arab., f. quffa basket.

guides \Corruptly ad. med.L. guidegi, ad. Arab. widaj.

gundi \Tripolitan Arabic (? orig. Berber); Lyon writes it in Arab. characters qundi; in Tripoli the letter qaf is pronounced (g).

gyrfalcon \ Sp., Pg. gerifalte (...) The latter suggestion was prob. based on the current term falco sacer denoting a kind of hawk; but according to modern scholars sacer in this use (...) does not mean ‘sacred’, but is an adoption of the Arabic çaqr...

habara \Arab. habara.

haboob \Arab. habub blowing furiously.

Hadith \a. Arab. hadith a tradition.

hadj \Arab.