Arabic influence in other languages

Submitted by Neil on Sun, 10/06/2007 - 17:01.
Neil
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I just found this really interesting site:

http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/arabicspanish.htm

I had no idea so many words in English and Spanish came from Arabic. Of course I knew the obvious ones (alcohol, algebra) but I didn't know barrio, deniro, matar and many others were all from Arabic.

Well, you learn something everyday no?


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Tue, 12/06/2007 - 20:23
scrimbeldoo
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Arabic influences
Well, this is certainly very interesting, I am very interested in linguistics and I have often wondered about how much arabic has affected the Spanish language in particular. How did you come across this? Is it an interest of yours?
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Wed, 13/06/2007 - 08:19
Neil
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I found the website through

I found the website through a plug in for the firefox browser. I recommend it but if you install it prepare to see your productivity fall to nearly zero.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/ 

You basically list your interests and then there is a button you click which displays a random page. You can then give it thumbs up or thumbs down and it starts to get an idea of what pages you like. I've found some great pages with it but also it will eat your time!

As for an interest. Well, its more a general curiosity then interest. After 600 - 800 years of Muslim rule in Spain I guess its not so surprising there are so many arabic words in the language. 


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Wed, 13/06/2007 - 13:38
scrimbeldoo
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Interetsing! Although you

Interetsing! Although you are right - you can get carried away easily!

That's true about the muslim rule, that's why I have been interested in the level of influence of Arabic on the Spanish language. :o) 


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