Approaching the West — Page 34
A pproaching the West—34 3 Khil ā fat and Caliphate The commonly used English words Caliph and Caliphate are both taken and transformed from the Arabic terms Khal ī fah and Khil ā fat. The term caliph is in English use since 1393, and caliphate since 1614. One of the reasons for the richness of English vocabulary is its ability to borrow and absorb foreign words and phrases in abundance. English speaking people use words taken from almost every other language in the world. For example, from Indo-Pakistani languages such as Urdu, Hindi and Sanskrit, English has obtained camphor, ginger, musk, sugar, punch, guru, nirvana, bungalow, jungle, cheetah, thug, pundit and Aryan. From Farsi are bazaar, caravan, dervish, jasmine, magazine, rook and checkmate. From Hebrew are the words Amen, jubilee, kosher, Satan and messiah. Similarly, numerous names, phrases and terms are taken from Arabic language. To mention only a few: Admiral (am ī r-ul-ba ḥ r, or amir-ar- rahl, amiral), Gibraltar (Jabal-u ṭ - Ṭā riq), alchemy (al- k ī miy ā ), alcohol (al-ku ḥū l), algebra (al-jabru wal- muq ā bilah), algorithm (al-Khuwarazmi), arsenal (d ā r-u ṣ - Ṣ an ā ‘ah), assassin ( ḥ ash ī sh ī n), coffee (qahwah), elixir (al- iks ī r), emir (Am ī r), fakir (faq ī r), minaret (min ā rah), Ottoman (Uthm ā n), Saracen (sharqiy ī n), sofa ( ṣ uffah), talisman ( ṭ ilasm), and zero ( ṣ ifr).