In Persian, we often discuss the many words of Arabic origin. They're easy to identify because they have a different structure. Since Iranians learn Arabic in school, they can identify Arabic roots when they see them.
Fewer people realize the extent of Persian words in Arabic.
Fewer people realize the extent of Persian words in Arabic.
Take "muhandis" مهندس for example, meaning engineer. Most will tell you it's from the root h-n-d-s as in "handasa," meaning geometry or engineering.
But handasa is actually the middle Persian word handazag, from where modern Persian "andazeh" اندازه - meaning measurement - comes
But handasa is actually the middle Persian word handazag, from where modern Persian "andazeh" اندازه - meaning measurement - comes
It entered Arabic as "handasa" and then a root was back-formed to allow the concept to move thru different Arabic forms. By creating a four-letter root, the word "handasa" fit perfectly into an Arabic full of such roots.
And then Persian re-borrowed it back with the new meaning.
And then Persian re-borrowed it back with the new meaning.
And it allowed you to create words expressing new concepts using Arabic grammar forms just like with an originally Arabic root: for example, adding a meem م at the beginning to articulate the idea of a "person who does engineering".
Another example is ostaadh أستاذ, meaning "teacher," which comes from the Persian "ostad," craftsman.
But many people might assume it's the opposite, just because we're so used to looking for Arabic words in Persian, but not the other way around!
But many people might assume it's the opposite, just because we're so used to looking for Arabic words in Persian, but not the other way around!
Another Persian word in Arabic is din, meaning religion, from the Middle Persian word "din" (a different root than din meaning "judgment," like in yawm al-deen). Or dostour, meaning Constitution - from Persian "dast"-"vor".
The list of Persian words in Arabic goes on: ibriq (water jug, from Persian ab+rikht), tazej (fresh, from Middle Persian tazej that is Modern Persian taze), nemoudaj (example, from nemoune), fostouq (pistachio, from peste), and many more...
Reason a lot of the Arabic words have a final j is because in Middle Persian, "g" was a common ending- for ex, the language was called Parsig, not Parsi.
These "g" endings were lost in Modern Persian, but remain in Arabic loanwords, showing which are recent and which are old.
These "g" endings were lost in Modern Persian, but remain in Arabic loanwords, showing which are recent and which are old.
Some have pointed out there are A LOT more Persian words in Arabic than I listed- it's true! Like barnamej (barnameh) for schedule, kanz (ganj) for treasure, rasaas for lead, firdaws for paradise, and many more.
Here's some background reading: burjbaabil.com/2014/05/31/per…
Here's some background reading: burjbaabil.com/2014/05/31/per…
And here's a longer list of Persian words in Arabic and when they arrived: iranicaonline.org/articles/arabi…
