Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Various borrowings from Arabic relate to foodstuffs that were imported after the Crusades. One such foodstuff is an expensive yellow spice that
the Arabs called "zafaran". What does English call it?
2. More terms from "cookery". Which of these is not a foodstuff, but refers to the use of an oven?
3. Various "exotic" fruits (such as lemons, limes, apricots, etc.) found their way to Europe via the Middle-East. Sometimes via Spanish because that was Muslim territory for quite some time. Which name of a fruit did English borrow from Arabic via Spanish naranja?
4. What type of frozen dessert got its name from an Arabic word for a cold drink the name of which is related to the Arabic word for drinking: shariba?
5. Though Muslims are not supposed to drink alcohol the word alcohol (al- kohl) itself comes from Arabic. So does the word for a "still": "alembic" (al-ambicq) and even the popular "julep". Among Arabs a julep was a sweetish non-alcoholic mix with ____________.
6. It's not just food-and-drink words that were exported by the Arabs. English also took over the names of some animals. One such an animal is the gazelle (from "ghaza:l"). Another derives from "zara:fa" and refers to our ___________.
7. There of course are a lot of "political" words too that were taken over. One of them is "assassin" which referred to a sect of fanatic murderers who called themselves the "h'ashsha:shi:n", which meant: _______________.
8. Which of these terms refers to Muslim "fighters in a jihad"?
9. What is the basic root meaning of Arabic "shaikh" (English sheikh)?
10. A notorious term in recent political history was the name Taliban. It came from "talib" which meant: _____________.
Source: Author
flem-ish
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
thejazzkickazz before going online.
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