Borrowed Words from Around the World

Trace English words borrowed from Arabic, Hindi, Japanese, and other languages through trade and science.

English has borrowed from almost every language its speakers met through trade, scholarship, and travel. Medieval Arabic scholarship gave English 'algebra,' from al-jabr, 'the reunion of broken parts,' which appeared in the title of a book by the mathematician al-Khwarizmi. His own name, Latinized, gave us 'algorithm. ' 'Coffee' traveled from Arabic qahwa through Turkish. From Hindi and Urdu came 'shampoo' (from a word meaning 'press' or 'knead') and 'pajamas' (a Persian-derived word for 'leg garment'). Japanese gave 'tsunami,' from tsu, 'harbor,' and nami, 'wave.

' Worked example: the term 'harbor wave' once puzzled readers, because these waves form at sea. The name reflects what people on the shore saw, a wave that devastated the harbor. A borrowed word preserves the viewpoint of the people who named the thing.

• 1English borrows words through trade, science, and contact.
• 2Algebra and algorithm come from Arabic scholarship.
• 3Borrowed words preserve the original speakers' viewpoint.