Words from Aramaic
5 words in Curio passed through Aramaic on their way into English.
About Aramaic
Northwest group of the Semitic language family, alongside the Canaanite languages such as Hebrew and Phoenician · spoken today
Where
Ancient Syria → Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, the Caucasus and Eastern Arabia
When
Speakers
No reliable count
Wikidata records 445,000 speakers but gives no date for that figure.
Family path
- Aramaic
- Ancient GreekArabicKoine GreekLatin
- English
Where it came from
Aramaic began in the ancient region of Syria and spread quickly across much of West Asia. Its earliest inscriptions date from the 11th century BC, which places it among the earliest languages to be written down. The scholar Holger Gzella notes that its history before the first texts of the 9th century BC is unknown.
Source: Wikipedia
The words, A to Z
- arsenic
A deadly poison whose name once meant something as bright as gold.
- caraway
This little seed's name has been passed hand to hand across languages like a spice traded down a caravan route.
- marigold
This flower carries a saint's name folded right into its petals.
- saffron
This golden spice carried its name across four languages before it ever reached an English kitchen.
- semolina
A gritty little grain name that started life meaning simply "the finest."