List of Arabic Loanwords in English - Notes About The List

Notes About The List

The various etymology dictionaries are not always consistent with each other. This reflects differences in judgment about the reliability or uncertainty of a given etymological derivation. In cases where one dictionary reports an Arabic etymology but it's not supported by reports in other leading dictionaries, the word doesn't qualify for inclusion on the list.

Obsolete words and very rarely used non-technical words are not included in the list, but some specialist technical words are included. For example, the technical word "alidade" comes from the Arabic name for an ancient measuring device used to determine line-of-sight direction. Despite few English-speaking people being acquainted with it, the device's name remains part of the vocabulary of English-speaking surveyors, and today's instrument uses modern technology, and is included in the list.

The list has been restricted to loan words: It excludes loan translations (aka calques). Here's an example of a loan translation. The amygdala is a modern scientific word for a structure in the brain. The word comes from the Greek for almond. The structure has an outward vague resemblance to an almond. The almond resemblance was first conceived by medieval Arab physicians, who labelled the structure with Arabic "al-lauzat" = "the almond". Medieval Europeans directly translated this into Latin by using the Greek "amygdala" for it. Amygdala is thus an Arabic loan translation, not a loan word. Another example of a technical loan translation is dura mater. The dura mater is the tough outer layer of membrane surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Quoting an etymology dictionary: "Medieval Latin "dura mater cerebri", literally "hard mother of the brain," a loan-translation of Arabic umm al-dimagh as-safiqa, literally "thick mother of the brain". In Arabic, the words 'father,' 'mother,' and 'son' are often used to denote relationships between things." The word "sine"—as in sine, cosine and tangent—is another example of an Arabic loan translation. The majority of Arabic loanwords on the list entered the Western languages in the late medieval era. Medieval translators from Arabic to Latin brought in some additional, unquantified number of Arabic words via loan translations in preference to loans. Most such translations took place in the later 12th and early 13th centuries. See Translations from Arabic to Latin in the 12th century.