رمضان كريم
Etymologically presents
Ramadan Etymologies
The words of the holy month, the sweet things that break the fast at sunset, and the numbers, stars and sciences that English learned from Arabic.
The month of fasting
The words of the month, from the first crescent to the feast at its end.
- 1590s Ramadan from Arabic ramaḍān From ramaḍa, “to be burning hot”. The month is thought to have been named when it fell in the hot season; in the lunar calendar it now moves through all of them. Read the full etymology →
- late 14th century crescent from Latin crescere “to grow” The waxing moon, “the growing one”, through Old French creissant. Ramadan begins with the sighting of the new crescent. Read the full etymology →
- 18th century Eid from Arabic ʿīd “festival” From a root meaning “to return”: a feast that comes round again. Eid al-Fitr, the feast of breaking the fast, ends Ramadan. Read the full etymology →
- 1610s Islam from Arabic islām “submission” Submission to God, from aslama, “he submitted”. The same root gives Muslim, “one who submits”, and salām, “peace”. Read the full etymology →
- 1610s salaam from Arabic salām “peace” The greeting as-salāmu ʿalaykum, “peace be upon you”, related to Hebrew shalom. Read the full etymology →
- 1610s Quran from Arabic qurʾān “recitation” From qaraʾa, “to read, recite”. Long spelled Koran in English; Ramadan is the month in which its revelation is said to have begun. Read the full etymology →
- late 14th century mosque from Arabic masjid The “place of prostration”, from sajada, “to bow down”. It reached English through Spanish mezquita, Italian moschea and French mosquée. Read the full etymology →
- 1680s minaret from Arabic manārah “lighthouse” From nār, “fire”: a place of light, a lamp-stand, and then the tower from which the call to prayer is made. Read the full etymology →
- 1580s muezzin from Arabic muʾaḏḏin The one who calls the faithful to prayer, from aḏḏana, “to call”, itself from uḏn, “ear”. Read the full etymology →
The table at sunset
The fast is broken at dusk, often with dates and something sweet. Many of the words came through Arabic.
- early 15th century tamarind from Arabic tamr hindī “date of India” The pulpy pod was taken for a kind of date. The tamr, the date, is the fruit traditionally eaten to break the fast. Read the full etymology →
- c. 1200 sugar from Arabic sukkar Through Medieval Latin and Old French, from Arabic, which took it from Persian; behind that lies Sanskrit śarkarā, “grit, gravel”. Read the full etymology →
- late 13th century candy from Arabic qandī First sugar candy: crystallised sugar, from Arabic qandī and Persian kand, perhaps from a Sanskrit word for “piece”. Read the full etymology →
- late 14th century syrup from Arabic šarāb “a drink” From a verb meaning “to drink”. Sherbet comes from the same family, and so does shrub, the old fruit cordial. Read the full etymology →
- 1600s sherbet from Turkish şerbet, Arabic šarba A cooling drink of fruit juice and sugar, served in the Ottoman world. The frozen dessert came later. Read the full etymology →
- 1590s coffee from Arabic qahwa Through Dutch koffie and Turkish kahve. Some say qahwa once meant wine; others link it to Kaffa in Ethiopia. The sources disagree. Read the full etymology →
- 1550s apricot from Arabic al-barqūq A round trip: Latin praecoquum, “early-ripening”, went into Greek, then into Arabic, and came back to Europe through Catalan with the Arabic al- attached. Read the full etymology →
- c. 1200 saffron from Arabic zaʿfarān The costly spice of crocus stigmas, through Old French safran. Read the full etymology →
Lanterns of learning
In the medieval Islamic world, scholars carried mathematics, astronomy and chemistry forward. Europe learned them, and their words, from Arabic.
- algebra Arabic al-jabr, “the reuniting of broken parts”, from the title of al-Khwārizmī’s treatise on equations of about 825. In English it also once meant setting broken bones.
- algorithm From the name of al-Khwārizmī himself, “the man from Khwarazm”, whose book taught Europe Arabic numerals. The -thm was added by confusion with Greek arithmós, “number”.
- zero Arabic ṣifr, “empty”, through Italian zefiro, shortened to zero.
- cipher The same ṣifr by another road: first the sign for zero, then any numeral, then a secret code.
- alchemy Arabic al-kīmiyāʾ, perhaps from Greek. Drop the article, and alchemy becomes chemistry.
- alcohol Arabic al-kuḥl, kohl, the fine powder used to darken the eyelids; then any fine powder, then an essence got by distilling, then spirits.
- zenith Arabic samt ar-raʾs, “the path over the head”. A medieval scribe misread the m of samt as ni, and cenit was born.
- admiral Arabic amīr, “commander”, from titles like amīr al-baḥr, “commander of the sea”. The al stayed attached, and Latin admirabilis lent the d.