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Lesson One: Walk into Starbucks and say, “One café mocha with sugar.” Congratulations, you have successfully acquired an Arabic vocabulary of three words!
So what did you really say at Starbucks? To start off, it’s not surprising that such popularized foods as
coffee, mocha, and sugar found their way to Europe
through the Arabs. The three are native to hot climates, particularly
the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf, and Asia. During the 8th
century, the Islamic conquest brought the Golden Age of Arab culture,
when migrants from the Persian Gulf and North Africa expanded their
empire to Al-Andalus (Andalusia) in Spain. Scholars, scientists,
mathematicians, poets, architects, and merchants developed one of the
greatest civilizations during an era when many European countries
suffered the Dark Ages, an outpouring of disease, poverty, and lack of
education. In Al-Andalus, the Arabs introduced agriculture and trade,
which involved the importation of plants and spices from their own
native lands. And we all can see that to this day, as Folgers and
Maxwell House have made their mark with arabica coffee (that is,
coffee from the Coffea arabica species). Legend has it that
Muslim clerics would drink coffee all night in the Good work. Lesson Two. If you ever failed algebra, forgot your algorithms, or struggled in
chemistry, you might blame it on ancient history instead of your
highschool teacher. Al-jabr (algebra), al-khowarazimi
(algorithm), and al-kimiya (achemy/chemistry) all
originated from the Arab civilization in what is now modern-day Iraq.
After the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century, Baghdad became
the capital of scholarship in the Near East. Merchants, scientists, and
other intellects from as
Whew. Enough math. Just lay back, relax. What's that you say? You'd like some chai with lemon and a magazine? Since when do you speak Arabic so well? Chai, as you might know, is the very word in Arabic for "tea", also called atay in some dialects. Lemon comes from the Arabic laimun, still present in the modern vocabulary. Magazine originates from makhazin, meaning "storehouse", one of the many Arabic words that has also maintained itself in the French language, as magasin, or "shop". An English magazine is a storehouse of information or, in the case of firearms, it is a storehouse of ammunition. Many of the common English words with Arabic roots begin with the
prefix al, the only definite article in Arabic, also adopted into
the Spanish language. For example, almanac comes from So taking the al concept into consideration: “I al-ways eat fettuccini al-fredo with Al-bert. Did I al-ready tell you that we al-most went to Al-buqerque?” Wait—that doesn’t work. But if you want to talk crime, look no further. Let’s take the sentence, “He’s an assassin in Alcatraz.” What you really said in Arabic is, “He’s a hashish-eater in the pelican.” Perhaps if you were a hashish-eater you’d find yourself talking like that. The word assassin comes from hashishin, a name used to denote a certain branch of the Nizari sect of Ismaili Muslims. Although hashishin means "hashish-eater", they were very abstemious and it is unlikely that they ever used drugs. In fact, they called themselves assassiyun ("[those who are] faithful to the foundation"), and it is thought this word was deliberately mangled by detractors of the sect, pronouncing it as hashishin.
That being said, let’s go to Lesson Three. Next time you go to the county fair, try asking for qutn qandah and sharbah. Etymology, ah, how sweet it is! The two English words cotton and candy come directly from the similar Arabic equivalents (qandah was borrowed by the Arabs from Persian qand "sugar"). Sharbah, meaning "to drink", later entered the English language as sherbet, sorbet, and syrup. Between Starbucks, Budweiser, Chicken of the Sea, and the local candy shop, you could make a whole meal out of foreign language practice. If you do find yourself in the Middle East, you’ll see that the game
of sheikhs is popular. Have Lastly, a little vacation advice. Perhaps you lust to see a zarafah, or giraffe, and go on a safari — from the word safar, ‘journey’ (coming to English via Swahili) or simply wish to trek in the Sahara, actually just the Arabic word for "desert". Be sure not to call your tour guide a “nice fellah,” unless he’s taking you for a ride on his tractor. Fellah means ‘farmer’ or ‘peasant’ in Arabic and derives from falaha "to till the soil" (but it is not related to English fellow, which is sometimes pronounced "fella"). At least in knowing our languages aren’t too different, we and our Arab neighbors can feel a little closer to one another. So let’s get together and sip a Kooka Koola, Coca Cola, or whatever your tongue might dictate. Some pleasures are simply universal. --by guest writer Linda Smolik, edited by M&M | |||
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