Arabic Loanwords in English

Arabic is one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world. Many English speakers may not realize how many Arabic loanwords exist in English. Here are twenty words:

admiral
alcohol
alfalfa
algebra
apricot
artichoke
average
caraway
cotton
giraffe
jar
lemon
saffron
sofa
syrup
tamarind
tangerine
tarragon
traffic
zero

Four of the words on the list are fruits: apricot, lemon, tamarind and tangerine. Three are spices: caraway, saffron and tarragon. Many of these words such as alcohol, algebra and giraffe are also used in other languages.

English has borrowed many words from Arabic. They includes the names of fruits and spices. Many of the words from the list are also found in various languages besides English.

Translated Song (Song of America)

The Brazilian singer Milton Nascimento is well-known in Brazil. One of his famous songs is Canção da América. This means Song of America. Here are the lyrics along with my translation:

Amigo é coisa pra se guardar
Debaixo de sete chaves,
Dentro do coração.
Assim falava a canção que na América ouvi.
Mas quem cantava chorou
Ao ver seu amigo partir.

Mas quem ficou no pensamento voou
Com seu canto que o outro lembrou
E quem voou no pensamento ficou
Com a lembrança que o outro cantou.

Amigo é coisa pra se guardar
No lado esquerdo do peito
Mesmo que o tempo e a distância digam "não",
Mesmo esquecendo a canção.
O que importa é ouvir
A voz que vem do coração.

Pois seja o que vier (seja o que vier),
Venha o que vier (venha o que vier),
Qualquer dia amigo, eu volto
A te encontrar.
Qualquer dia, amigo,
A gente vai se encontrar.

A friend is a thing to keep
Under seven keys,
Inside the heart.
So spoke the song I heard in America.
But who sang cried
Upon seeing his friend leave.

But who stayed flew in thought
With his song the other remembered.
And who flew stayed in thought
With the memory the other sang.

A friend is a thing to keep
On the left side of the chest
Even if time and distance say "no",
Even forgetting the song.
What matters is to listen to
The voice that comes from the heart.

So whatever comes (whatever comes),
Come what may come (come what may come),
Any day, friend, I'll come back
To find you.
Any day, friend,
We'll meet.

Dreams

The American poet Langston Hughes wrote the short poem Dreams. Here it is:

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

The poem consists of two stanzas with four verses each. In each stanza the second and fourth verses rhyme. The poem uses powerful metaphors to highlight the importance of dreams. Without dreams, it says life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly and a barren field frozen with snow.

Sound Correspondence Between German and North Germanic Languages

Many German words with the sound /ʃ/ in German correspond to /sk/ in the North Germanic languages. The /ʃ/ of German is also preserved in many English words. The following examples illustrate the correspondence. The English word is given first followed by the German and then the respective North Germanic languages.

(ash) Asche aske (Danish/Norwegian) aska (Swedish)
(bottle) Flasche flaske (Danish/Norwegian) flaska (Swedish)
(fish) Fisch fisk (Danish/Norwegian/Swedish)
(fresh) frisch frisk (Danish) fersk (Norwegian) färsk (Swedish)
(frog) Frosch frosk (Norwegian)
(machine) Maschine maskine (Danish) maskin (Norwegian/Swedish)
(school) Schule skole (Danish/Norwegian) skola (Swedish)
(shield) Schild skjold (Danish/Norwegian) skjöld (Swedish)
(ship) Schiff skib (Danish) skip (Norwegian) skepp (Swedish)
treasure Schatz skat (Danish) skatt (Norwegian/Swedish)

Though maskin, skjold, and skjöld are spelt with the letters sk, they are not pronounced with /sk/ in Norwegian and Swedish. In Danish, however, the pronunciation /sk/ is preserved. The Norwegian and Swedish words were pronounced /sk/ at an earlier stage, but palatalization changed the pronunciation.

The English words preserve the /ʃ/ of German. However, Schule and school reflect the sound correspondence illustrated in the examples. The word flask is related to the German Flasche.

From the examples, it is clear that the German /ʃ/ is often /sk/ in the North Germanic languages. The North Germanic languages preserve the original /sk/. The sound change which occurred in German and also in English was the result of palatalization.

English Heteronyms

Heteronyms are words which are spelt the same but pronounced differently. English has many examples. Here are ten heteronyms:


bass 
bow
close
lead
minute
separate
sow
tear
wind
wound

Nine of the words vary in the pronunciation of the vowel. In the case of minute, the stress is also different. The unit of time has first-syllable stress and the adjective has second-syllable. The verb close is pronounced with a word-final /z/, but the adjective is pronounced with /s/.

English heteronyms are words which share the same spelling but have different pronunciation. They are different from homonyms, words which have the same pronunciation but different spelling. English heteronyms reflect the irregularity of English spelling.

Translated Song (Our Last Dance)

The Swedish singer Melissa Horn has many beautiful songs. One of them is Vår Sista Dans. This means Our Last Dance. Here are the lyrics of the song followed by my translation.

Jag vet vad som måste göras.
Ändå sitter jag kvar här
Och det skrämmer mig
Att jag kan nå dig
Var du än är.

Och om jag behöver förklara,
Den skugga som vilar i tiden
Förstör inga minnen.
Du vill inte se mig såhär.

Men jag vet att jag döljer en sanning
Att väntan inte leder någonstans.
Jag vet att jag måste ta steget ur vår sista dans.

Jag vet vad som måste göras.
Ändå sitter jag kvar här
I ett sista kapitel som jag har förälskat mig i.

Jag forsöker att strida mot känslan
Men den är rädd och den spelar ett spel nu.
Jag far för mig att jag kan va kvar,
Men vet inte hur.

Men jag vet att jag döljer en sanning,
Att väntan inte leder någonstans.
Jag vet att jag måste ta steget
Ur vår sista dans.

Jag vet vad som måste göras.
Ändå ligger du kvar här
Och jag hoppas du sover.
Jag smeker dig lätt om din hals.

Jag vill inte spara min längtan.
Jag har tänkt men aldrig fått tala,
Så feg att jag viskar.
Du hör säkert ingenting alls.

Men jag vet att jag döljer en sanning,
Att väntan inte leder någonstans.
Jag vet att jag måste ta steget
Ur vår sista dans.
Älskling, hör på, jag tar steget
Ur vår sista dans.

I know what must be done.
Still I'm left sitting here
And it scares me
To know I can reach you
Wherever you are.

And if I need to explain,
That shadow that rests in time
Doesn't destroy any memories.
You don't want to see me like this.

But I know that I'm hiding a truth,
That the wait won't lead anywhere.
I know that I must take the step out of our last dance.

I know what must be done.
Still I'm left sitting here
In a final chapter I've fallen in love with.

I try to fight against the feeling
But it's afraid and it's playing a game now.
I imagine myself left staying
But don't know how.

But I know that I'm hiding a truth,
That the wait won't lead anywhere.
I know that I must take the step out of our last dance.

I now what must be done.
Still you're left lying here
And I hope you're sleeping.
I caress you lightly around your neck.

I don't want to spare my longing.
I've thought but never gotten to speak,
Such a coward that I whisper.
You surely don't hear anything at all.

But I now that I'm hiding a truth,
That the wait won't lead anywhere.
I know that I must take the step out of our last dance.
Darling, listen, I'm taking the step out of our last dance.

English Onset and Coda Consonant Clusters

English has many consonant clusters. They can consist of either two, three or four consonants. Consonant clusters with four syllables are restricted to the coda. Consonant clusters with three and four consonants always include /s/.

Examples of consonant clusters with four consonants include glimpsed and twelfths. If the definition of consonant cluster includes consonant sequences which occur across syllable boundaries, the word extra can also be used as an example. However, not all linguists consider extra an example of a word with a sequence of four consonants because they prefer to restrict consonant clusters to a single syllable.

Consonant clusters can be classified according to sonority. Rising consonant clusters usually occur at the beginning of words and syllables. Examples include drink, three and flight. The second consonant is more sonorant than the first. However, falling consonant clusters are usually found at the end of words and syllables. Examples include belt, lens and wind. Here the first consonant is more sonorant than the second.

In word-medial position, both rising and falling consonant clusters occur. The words athlete has a rising consonant cluster, but dancer has a falling one. The consonant clusters in words such as athlete, only and recently can only occur word-medially.

Though word-initial clusters in English are restricted to those with rising sonority, word-final clusters are not always restricted to those with falling sonority. For example, the words axe and act do not exemplify falling sonority. Voiceless plosives are the least sonorant on the sonority scale.

The English language allows many types of consonant clusters. This is in fact true of all Germanic languages. The consonant clusters permissible in the onset and coda are often different. Onset consonant clusters are rising consonant clusters and coda consonant clusters are usually falling consonant clusters.