In my Japanese class, the kids were having a bit of a hard time that the numbers being used in English (1, 2, 3 etc) are used in Japanese too - and they're written exactly the same.
"Miss! (*grrrrr*) They've pinched our numbers!" one student said, with a bit of xenophobic indignity.
I looked him straight in the eye and said "And English 'borrowed' them from Arabic."
Didn't hear a peep from Little Mr Xenophobe again that lesson.
When I think of Arabic words my brain is drowned in a list of star names. I know there are other modern English words that are derived from Arabic, but I just start thinking Altair, Betelgeuse, Deneb...
How about zenith?
I'm not sure about Nahuatl, but it makes me think of ahuacatl. It was bastardized into the European languages as avocado and called the 'lawyer fruit' (from avocat), but the original meant 'testicle fruit' because of the shape and the way it hung from the tree.
if you want to see just how many stars have Arabic names, check out the freeware solar system sim Celestia. it also has a star database. Alhajot rather than Capella. Suhel rather than Canopus. Alhabor rather than Sirius. Elgomaisa rather than Procyon. Alrukaba rather than Polaris. Calbala (the crab) rather than Antares (the ram).
Kate: i don't imagine you ever would be, but if you ever are stuck for a good name for an alien race, there's the likes of Asmidiske, Mebsuta, Aludra and Zubenelgenubi in that list.
nadir zenith algebra alchemy ghoul coffee, I think (plus the obvious ones like minaret and so on, which aren't really derived English words so much as English usages of their words)
Alcohol. Algebra. Bunch of star names (alnilam, mintaka, algol, betelgeuse). Algorhythm? (However it's spelled.) Al From Off Of Quantum Leap. Er... Hummus. Jellybaby (It SOUNDS Arabic! Djel'i'baybi or somethin'.) Whatever they extract tonsils with probably has an Arab name since they invented it. Alcopops! Um. Assassin. Burqa has to count as being in the English language by now. Umm... err... lots of Spanish place names. Al-andalus, Alicante, Al...Benidorm. Um. Mosque is SO an English word. Minaret? That sounds more French though. NOT Alphabet even though it SOUNDS Arabic. All the numbers but not the words for them.
In Vernor Vinge's novel A Fire Upon the Deep, the Skrode Riders are intelligent seaweed people with a long-term memory extension cum billy cart, the Skrode. :-)
Christ, I'm not sure how many words around here are from Spanish or nahuatl. The little of the latter I learned were things like coatl (snake), chapultepec (grasshopper) and lots of place names tenochitlan (orig name before mexico city), popocatepetl (volcano near mexico city). chocolate is obvious but already suggested. Oh, mescali, peyote, those should be from here. Not sure if nahuatl or other, though, there's a passle of indigenous languages around here...
That's so cool. Apparently Malay and Indonesian, lacking a word for "brown", both incorporated "chocolate" from either English or Dutch, making it a very well-travelled word. :-)
no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 12:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 12:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 01:26 am (UTC)"Miss! (*grrrrr*) They've pinched our numbers!" one student said, with a bit of xenophobic indignity.
I looked him straight in the eye and said "And English 'borrowed' them from Arabic."
Didn't hear a peep from Little Mr Xenophobe again that lesson.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-12 06:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 12:49 am (UTC)How about zenith?
I'm not sure about Nahuatl, but it makes me think of ahuacatl. It was bastardized into the European languages as avocado and called the 'lawyer fruit' (from avocat), but the original meant 'testicle fruit' because of the shape and the way it hung from the tree.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 12:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 01:07 am (UTC)(Does the Mexican Santa Claus say "Xo Xo Xo"?)
no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 02:15 pm (UTC)Kate: i don't imagine you ever would be, but if you ever are stuck for a good name for an alien race, there's the likes of Asmidiske, Mebsuta, Aludra and Zubenelgenubi in that list.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 10:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-11 07:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 01:04 am (UTC)zenith
algebra
alchemy
ghoul
coffee, I think
(plus the obvious ones like minaret and so on, which aren't really derived English words so much as English usages of their words)
avocado
guacamole
chocolate
coyote
peyote
ocelot
tomato
tamale
no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 02:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 02:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 01:27 am (UTC)Being 'topical', does jihad count?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 01:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 02:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 04:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 03:08 am (UTC)More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Arabic_origin
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Date: 2006-11-10 04:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 02:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 10:08 pm (UTC)Nahuatl
Date: 2006-11-10 05:58 am (UTC)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Nahuatl_origin
Re: Nahuatl
Date: 2006-11-10 07:02 am (UTC)Re: Nahuatl
Date: 2006-11-10 07:24 am (UTC)Re: Nahuatl
Date: 2006-11-10 07:31 am (UTC)Re: Nahuatl
Date: 2006-11-10 07:48 am (UTC)(It doesn't Google well, and Dictionary.com's never heard of it.)
Re: Nahuatl
Date: 2006-11-11 07:33 am (UTC)Re: Nahuatl
Date: 2006-11-11 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 07:09 am (UTC)tenochitlan (orig name before mexico city), popocatepetl (volcano near mexico city). chocolate is obvious but already suggested. Oh, mescali, peyote, those should be from here. Not sure if nahuatl or other, though, there's a passle of indigenous languages around here...
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Date: 2006-11-10 08:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 11:30 am (UTC)and axolotl.
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Date: 2006-11-10 02:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 10:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-15 02:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-15 05:22 am (UTC)