Word Origins from Around the World Quiz

Answer: syrup

From the Arabic 'sharab', the word for a highly sweetened beverage, we get the English 'syrup'. Latin borrowed from the Arabic and used 'siropus', which became the Middle English 'sirop'; the spelling 'syrup' was first used in the 14th century.
'Sheriff' is a compound word; it conjoins the Old English 'scir' (shire) and the Old English 'gerefa' [reeve] and squashes them together to make 'sheriff'.
'Sahara' is from the Arabic 'sahra', meaning 'desert'.
'Carafe' is also from the Arabic, from the word 'garrafa', meaning 'drinking vessel'.

Answer: bungalow

From the Hindi 'bangla' we get 'bungalow'. 'Bangla' means 'of Bengal', and by extension, 'a house in the style of Bengal', which was a badly-made one-story house with a thatched roof.
'Bangle' is also from the Hindi; it comes from 'bangri', meaning 'bracelet'.
'Banshee', which is a female spirit whose wail means death in the house, is from the Old Irish 'ben side', meaning 'woman of the fairies'.
And 'bank' is from the Germanic, meaning 'bench'. I don't know why the two are related. When I say Germanic, I don't mean the German spoken today, I mean the German of 2000 years ago.

Answer: taffeta

From the Persian 'taftah' we get taffeta, meaning woven. Taffeta, the stiff silk fabric which looks so gorgeous for evening gowns, reached Middle English through the Turkish and the Old French or the Old Italian [opinions are divided].
Tapioca is the only indigenous South American word I know. It comes from the Tupi-Guarani words 'tipi', meaning 'dregs', and 'og' or 'ok', meaning 'squeeze out'. Apparently tapioca is a starchy substance in hard white grains squeezed out of cassava and used for puddings. The Tupi, I know, live in the Amazon basin, and the Guarani are spread about northern South America; I also know that this description may have ruined one of my favourite desserts!
'Caftan' is simply from the Turkish kaftan, and 'toffee' is a word of unknown origin.

Answer: regatta

The Middle Italian 'rigattare' brings us the English word 'regatta'. The word was first used to describe colorful gondola races along Venice's Grand Canal. England's first regatta was held on the Thames River in 1775, and caused great excitement.
Wikipedia tells me that rigatoni is an Italian word meaning a large, slightly curved, tubular pasta.
'Rigorous' derives from the Latin 'rigere', 'to be stiff'.
'Guitar' comes from the Greek word 'kithara', meaning 'stringed instrument'.

Answer: silk

The Chinese word 'silk' derives from the word 'si', and the first written evidence for it comes from the ninth century.
'To see', 'the sea', and 'sick', are all words that started out as Germanic, and travelled through the Gothic language, the Old Norse, the Old Saxon, the Old High German, and finally to the Old English. An example is 'sick', which began life as the Germanic 'seukaz', became the Gothic 'siuks', the Old Norse 'sjukr', the Old High German 'sioh', the Old Saxon 'siok', and finally found its home in the Old English tongue as 'seoc', which is a recognizable ancestor of 'sick'.

Answer: cannibal

Carib was a language spoken in the West Indies and northern South America; today it survives in at least 30 dialects in South America. The Carib word 'galibi' led to the formation of the word 'cannibal'. Before Columbus travelled to the West Indies, the word meant 'valiant man'. Columbus mistook the word 'galibes' and called them 'canibales' instead. The Spanish who settled the region became convinced that the natives consumed human flesh; thus the association of 'galibes' with 'cannibals'.
'Carioca', which has two meanings: 'a native of Brazil', or 'samba music', is borrowed directly from the Portuguese.
'Canine' comes from the Latin 'canis', meaning 'dog'.
Finally, 'jelly' is from the Roman 'gelata', meaning 'frost' or 'jelly', which was borrowed freely into Middle English.

Answer: grape

The Germanic 'krappon' gives us the word 'grape'. A 'krappon' was a hook used for gathering bunches of grapes. Modern French still uses the word 'grappe' to mean 'a bunch of grapes'.
'Crap' is a Middle English word borrowed from the Dutch 'krappe'.
'Grappa', which is a brandy distilled from the refuse of grapes after wine-making, is an Italian word, borrowed into the English language.
A 'tarpon', a large silvery game-fish, is from the Dutch 'tarpoen'.

Answer: hearse

The Oscans were an ancient people who lived on the Italian peninsula. Their word 'hirpus' became our word 'hearse', after a long, twisted etymological path. The Oscan 'hirpus' originally meant 'wolf'. The Romans borrowed the word, and changed it to 'hirpex', using it to describe the rakes they used for breaking up the soil; the teeth of the rakes had jagged teeth which reminded them of wolves. The word made its way to Old French, in which time it was customary to put a triangular frame with spikes to hold candles under the body of an important person. The spikes were sharp and jagged, so the old word, by now 'herce', was dragged out to describe the bier. In the fourteenth century, the word 'taper hearse' first entered the English language to describe the same candle and bier ceremony I have just discussed. It was only in the late 1600s that the word began to mean a vehicle used for transporting a coffin.
'Herpes' is of Greek origin, from the word 'herpes', signifying 'shingles' [the viral type, not the type you put on your roof].
'Iris' - both the type associated with the human eye, and the perennial plant - are from the the Greek goddess Iris, who was the goddess of the rainbow.
'Chirp' is derived from the Middle English words 'chirk' or 'chirt', and are examples of onomatopoeia, or more simply put, are imitative. Chirp sounds like what a bird is saying.

Answer: lizard

'Lacertus' is Latin for 'lizard'. In Old French the word became 'lesard' or 'laisarde', and in Middle English it became 'liserd' or 'lesard'. The first English source is Langland's Piers Plowman. The Latin 'lacertus' also means 'forearm'; it is conjectured that the lizard was named for its resemblance to the shape of the human forearm.
'Laughter', at its very root, Indo-European, was imitative; it began long ago as 'klak', the sound of laughter. When it finally reached Old English, it was 'hlæhhan', or 'hliehhan'.
'Milk' comes from the Germanic 'meluks'.
'Certain' derives from the Latin 'certus', meaning 'settled'.

Answer: robust

The Indo-European 'reudh' became 'robust' on an interesting path. 'Reudh' originally meant 'red'. There was a type of oak tree with very hard, reddish wood that for which Latin-speaking people used this source word. They called the tree 'robus', having mutated the word somewhat, and associated the tree and the word with strength and power. The word made its way to the French as 'robuste', and 'robust' was in use in English by the sixteenth century.
'Red' is a word that's been shortened a lot over time, thank goodness. It started life as the Germanic 'raudhaz', the Gothics used 'rauth', the Old Norse used 'rauthr', then it was abbreviated by the Old High Germans as 'rot', the Old Saxons as 'rod', and when it reached Old English, it was 'read'. I'm glad it's settled down to three letters.
'Rude' is from the Latin 'rudis', meaning unwrought, and was picked up by Middle English.
'Rue', meaning to repent of, or to wish undone, has its roots in Old High German 'hriuwan', but it's been whittled down in the same manner as red has.

I owe the Concise Oxford Dictionary many thanks for its help with word definitions and etymologies. My biggest source was the wonderful book "Dictionary of Word Origins" by Linda and Roger Flavell, which is fascinating and fun for anyone who loves words.