Moorish Influences in the English Language

Warhol wrote:
Moorish Influences in the English Language

**** off*


-------
*Why am I rude and intolerant ?

Warhol gives no indication of being interested in intellectual
discovery. He limits himself to spouting propaganda. Intellect is
mocked.

RL

Yeah, and all star names and words starting with "al" are Arabic. We
know, we know!

But, what have Arabs contributed in the last 500 years or so?
Terrorism, beheadings (NOT new!); oh, yeah, plane hijackings! Quite a
peaceful list, Warthole!

Saul Levy


On Sat, 17 Sep 2005 19:31:33 +0200, "Warhol"
wrote:

Moorish Influences in the English Language


One can see the immense Moorish contribution to English if we examine only
one of these areas: food and drink. Alcohol is derived from the Moorish
alkuhl; apricot - al-barquq; artichoke - al-khurshuf; arrack - caraq;
banana - banan; candy - qand; cane - qana; caramel - qanah; caraway -
karawya; carob - kharrub; coffee and cafe - qahwa; cumin - kammun; jasmine -
yasmin; julep - julab; kabab or kabob - kabab; lemon, lemonade, and lime -
laymun; mocha - makha; orange - naranj; saffron - zacfaran; salep - thaclab;
sesame - simsim; sherbet - sharba; sherry - Sherish (the Arab name of the
city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia); spinach - isbanakh; sugar -
sukkar; sumach - summaq; syrup - sharab; tamarind - tamr hindi; tangerine -
tanja; tarragon - tarkhun; tumeric - kurkum; and tuna - tun are a number of
these words that have become as English as Yorkshire pudding.

Even in this times, the Moorish contribution has not stopped. As in most
other fields, in the domain of food and drink, the flow of Moorish words
into English continues. During the twentieth century, the words burghul or
burghal are derived from the Moorish burghul; couscous - kuskus; falafel -
filafil; halvah - halawa; hummus - hummus; kibbe or kibbeh - kubba; leban -
laban; shish kibab - shish kabab; and taboula - tabbula are now to be found
in most dictionaries as English words.

This sample of Moorish words in only one area of the English language makes
it clear that the language of the Qur'an has contributed, and continues to
contribute, to today's most widespread tongue on the globe. In today's
world, Moorish is the only language in which an ordinary Moorish-speaking
person can pick up a 1,500-year-old Arabic book and understand its contents.
All European languages, including English, did not exist at that time.
Languages such as Greek, Persian, and Chinese are, in our time, much
different from the older versions of these tongues, which are understood
only by scholars.

With such a venerable history, there is no doubt that Moorish, which the
Moors and, in fact, all Muslims consider to be "the language of Heaven,"

Visitors from Britain or North America strolling through an Moor city and
listening to the Moorish conversations of passersby are usually unaware that
the English language includes a good number of words derived from that
strange tongue. Yet, if they are not students of linguistics, they cannot be
blamed. Many of the Moorish words borrowed by English are so anglicized
that, for the layperson, it is difficult to identify their true origin.

My late colleague, James Peters, and I examined over 500,000 English words
and found that, from these, some 3,000 basic words and 5,000 of their
derivatives have some connection with the language of the Qur'an. Upwards of
500 of the basic words are common in the everyday language.
-----

The story of how these Moorish words entered the language of Shakespeare is
a fascinating one.

Moorish will continue its worldly role like the contributions, or creation
the language that spins the planet: ENGLISH FLEMISH FRENCH GERMANS GREEK
HEBREW LATIN and ofcourse ARABIC in ancient times long before all the other
nations developped their own Dialects.

Habeeb Salloum