English has a rich
store of words
originating from
other languages,
including
Sanskrit, Greek,
Latin and French.
Sanskrit gives us words like guru, swastika, and yoga. Academy, chorus, barbarian,
bishop, monologue, dialogue, holocaust,
gynaecology, democracy, museum, and theatre are a few of the innumerable words
coming to us from Greek. From Latin we
have, among others, words like agriculture,
aquatic, ambulance, benefactor, credit,
digit, and extra.
But words have arrived in the English language not only from these most prominent
sources. In everyday use, we find hundreds
of examples of words that have derived
from some exotic sources a legacy of
Britain’s colonial history. From the Indian
subcontinent we have words as diverse as
shampoo, ghee, bungalow, thug and pyjamas, while Malaysia gives us bamboo,
caddy, cockatoo and
ketchup.
From African languages, we
get the names of various
animals, including chimpanzee and zebra. North
American Indian languages give us moccasin, moose, skunk and toboggan, while
words ultimately of Arabic origin in
English include alcohol, algebra, carafe
and syrup. Persian, too, has contributed
numerous words to English, such as paradise, bazaar, sandal and magic.
Among the European languages, English
has borrowed heavily from Dutch –examples being brandy, bumpkin, frolic, gas and
skipper. From Spanish, we get cockroach,
guerrilla, mosquito, sherry and tornado,
while volcano, influenza, miniature and
umbrella come to us from
Italian.
