Saturday, February 11, 2012

Arabic in English!




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Arabic_loanwords_in_English

What time period are many of these words from?  Why do you think so many words come from this time?

What kinds of words has Arabic contributed to English?
Look at things like star names and medicine.


How is a language a reflection of the history and culture of a civilization?

10 comments:

  1. A lot of these things originated from fields that originated in Arabia, and were dominated by them in the Middle Ages , which shows that, like the Internet, the language of the people who invent something or dominate a field becomes the language of that field. Thus, there's significant Arabic influence in science, math, and names of plants and such that are local to this region.
    Language can show how a culutre was altered by coming into contact with other cultures and languages, and how they gained things from each other, based on the words they 'borrowed'.

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  2. Most of the words come from the Middle Ages this being because of the interaction between Arabia and Europe beginning around then. Spain was under Arab control at around this time so Spanish was heavily influence and from there words transferred to English.

    A lot of the words have something to do with science because at the time Arabia was leading in science and Europe was in the Dark Ages and so had no words for many of the new discoveries and theories coming Arabic developments.
    Language marks the interactions a culture had with other cultures and where the certain ideas entered into that culture and where they came from.

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  3. Most of the words listed come from the Medieval times where the Arab civilization was at its peak in terms of trade, science and agriculture. When the crusaders and European traders came into contact with the Arabs,they assimilated those words.

    As mentioned above, most words are either technical terms or names of exotic trade objects like fruits and textiles.

    Language is a reflection of culture and history because it shows how different civilizations/cultures have come into contact with each other.

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  4. Most of the words that are loanwords from Arabic have been known since the middle ages, and most of the words are from scientists, mathematicians, astrologists, and other famous people that have affected the society today. As soon as the word was created such as a new science component or math techniques of solving issues the english people adopted the word from them. Language reflects of the history and culture of a civilization in many different ways. For example some cultures adapt words from another culture and when a specific civilization creates one word in mathematics or science they adapt the word.

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  5. A lot of the words were "created" during the Middle Ages. A lot of the words in the English language today originated from Arabia as they played huge roles in medicine, the sciences and many more. Arabia was a huge trading point where people from all over came with their languages and so they mixed. The trade routes really helped the language to develop. At this time, Arabia and Europe actually interacted quite a lot, not only through trade but through Arabia's control over

    Arabic has contributed words such as cork, alcohol, tuna and spinach. But Arabic played a huge role in the scientific and math fields. Arabic gave English the number zero, chemistry, alkali and algebra.

    Language is a reflection of culture and history of a civilization as it shows how the different times, other cultures and events of the time. The different languages helped each other to develop.

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  6. What time period are many of these words from? Why do you think so many words come from this time?

    Most of these words are from the middle ages and that is when knowledge like science and math got introduced to the world mostly by arab scientists and philosophers ect.

    What kinds of words has Arabic contributed to English?
    Look at things like star names and medicine.

    most arabic words that contributed to english all had to due with math and science since arabs were known for there strong knowledge in science and math and a bit in language. trade could also be considered a reason for arabic being contributed to english.


    How is a language a reflection of the history and culture of a civilization?

    language is a reflection of the history and culture of a civilization because it shows how a civilization emerged and how different cultures communicated with each other which is related to their history

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  7. Many of these words come from the time where science and knowledge was being developed. In the middle ages between the 13th - 15th century, Mathematicians, Alchemists, and philosophers introduced whole new world of knowledge producing words such as aljaber (which translates to algebra) or alkemya (which translates to alchemy hence chemistry).
    How is a language a reflection of the history and culture of a civilization?
    Language shows what types of words people or civilizations use. We can know what sort of discoveries they made and what tools were invented, which reflects on the civilizations.

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  8. I believe that the time period in which these words were loaned to other languages was during the Muslim civilization which remained for thousands of years and stretched from China to Spain. These were also known as the Golden ages in which Science and Culture thrived and spread instantly through the Medieval world. The areas that were under Muslim rule were influenced by them and in order to communicate they would use the words they knew here and there, and when they inventors at that time came up with something others would not find another word to call it and so it would be named by that certain word and probably pronunciation.
    Most of the Arabic words that have contributed to the English language are probably meaning and objects that might have originated there or they might have invented or discovered. So for example words like Giraffe and Orange and sofa all might have been very common in the Muslim Civilization that as they spread they brought these new concepts. Other fields that have a lot of Arabic load words are the Sciences, Astronomy, botany and geography.
    I think it is a reflection because every civilization has a print that it places on the world with its language and it is up to the people under that influence to keep that language alive or move on.

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  9. Most of the words loaned from Arabic to the English language came from the middle ages. this was because of the muslim civilization and the spread of the Maoris, all across europe during this time period.
    Arabs also were inventing all of the science stuff like the names of animals and other things that relate to chemistry. So they were the ones who made up these words, which were later taken for the English language.
    The language is a reflection of the history and culture of civilization as the words show what that country invented and the words the people or civilizations used.

    -Sheikha & Rawda.

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  10. Tala and Dahlia

    What time period are many of these words from? Why do you think so many words come from this time?

    From the time where the Ottoman Empire was around, this is when a lot of cultural diffusion was happening, which lead to the spreading of words through trade and means of colonisation.

    What kinds of words has Arabic contributed to English?
    Look at things like star names and medicine.

    Many scientific words are part of the list of words that Arabic has contributed to English, and this is related to the Golden Ages, where the Arabs were able to discover and invent various items that acted as basics for other scientists to build upon.

    How is a language a reflection of the history and culture of a civilisation?

    The words used within a language are directly related to what the people speaking that language needed to express themselves, which essentially is their culture and history.

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