Before I enlist the words that English has borrowed from Persian, I would like to share with you some musings on borrowings and the words English has borrowed, which Robert Claiborne has penned in his marvellous work “The life and times of the English language”. “Borrowing words is like borrowing money,” he says, “the more you do of it, the easier it gets — especially since borrowed words, unlike borrowed francs, pounds or dollars, need not be repaid ... The only 'barrier' to word-borrowing is in the minds of the borrowers. Foreign words are often hard to pronounce, and even harder to remember, if (as is common) they have no roots in the native vocabulary. Thus, ... most borrowings before the Conquest, by the English and their ancestors, concerned new things and ideas, for which their own tongues had no words. ... Having, so to speak, established a line of credit at a particular linguistic bank, people will be apt to return to it, or one of its branches, for additional loans.”

As we have seen that the English language is an insatiable borrower and discussed the words borrowed by English from Arabic (Dawn, December 28, 2009), now let's have a look at how English, having dismantled the 'mental barrier', borrowed words from another source — Persian. For this piece, I had to consult different books. Here is a garland but, honestly, I have plucked these flowers from different gardens and nothing but the thread that binds them is mine.

'Bazaar', commonly used in English, is a Persian word literally meaning 'market or marketplace' in Persian. To take goods to a bazaar in another town, one had to travel in caravans. 'Caravan' is a word that now generally means 'a house on wheels' but it is an altered form of Persian word 'kaarvaan' that means 'a group (of people) that travels together for security, especially during long journeys in desert'. Interestingly enough, this 'English' word has its inflections as well, such as 'caravanned' and 'caravanning'.

In the Persian language, a king is a 'shah' and 'shahmaat' or 'shehmaat' is a compound joining 'shah' and the Arabic word 'maat'. 'Maat' literally means 'died' and 'shahmaat' means 'the king is dead'. In chess, it is a term meaning 'checkmate', and the English term is a corruption of 'shahmaat'.

The word 'divan' has different connotations in English, such as 'a collection of poems; a court of justice, a council; a council-room; a couch' etc. But it is in fact a slightly different version of the Persian word 'diwaan'.

Just like many other Persian words, 'lemon' has entered the English territory through French. The origin is 'limoon', also used in Urdu. Tiger, the ferocious animal, owes its English name to ancient Persian that had 'tigris' for tiger, though the word entered the English lexicon through the courtesy of French and German. 'Paradise' is from Persian 'firdous'. 'Musk', the strong smelling substance used in perfumery, owes its fragrance to Persian word 'mushk'. One can easily track down 'jasmine' and go all the way to a Persian garden smelling the fragrant shrub for it has its origin in Persian, which is 'yaasmeen'.

Yet another fragrant derivation is 'julep'. This word, meaning 'sweet, medicated syrup' is from 'julaab' which in turn is an Arabic version of Persian 'gulaab' or 'rose'. 'Gulaab' itself is a combination of 'gul' (flower) and 'aab' (water). 'Jackal' is from Persian word 'shaghaal', which has exactly the same meaning in both the languages. Turban is derived from Persian 'dulband'.

'Bakhshish', with its several variant spellings, means 'a present' or 'a small amount of money given as tip'. This word is a gift to the English language from Persian. It is derived from Persian infinitive 'bakhsheedan' or 'to bestow; to give away as a gift or favour'. 'Azure', or blue, is from Persian 'laajward', meaning 'blue'. The thin glossy silky stuff called 'taffeta' got its name from Persian word 'tafta' which literally means 'spun, twisted, or woven'. A preserved or embalmed dead body is called 'mummy' in English, and it is derived from the Persian word 'mumiyai' which is a kind of bituminous substance used as medicine.

'Shawl', is another word easily recognisable; it is from Persian 'shaal'. It is same with 'chador'. While talking about attires, let's not forget 'pyjamas', the loose trousers for sleeping in, which is from Persian 'pajama' or 'paijama' 'pa' or 'pai' meaning 'foot' or 'leg' and 'jama' 'clothing'.

And, of course, it is important not to forget to fasten your 'cummerbund' after slipping into your pyjamas since this Persian word means 'waist-belt', though in English it has a different sense.

Some other words that most of reputed English dictionaries give as headwords are pilao, narghile, Kohinoor, sepoy, roc, khaki, peri, purdah etc.

— drraufparekh@yahoo.com