Many words in modern Arabic dialects are originally Turkish. This articles discusses why this is the case, as well as gives lots of examples for such loan words and phrases.
Origins
This may sound strange for many, but since the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire had administrative control over most of the Middle East and North Africa, from Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Hijaz, Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria.
Even after the Ottomans gave up control for the colonial powers of Europe in the 19th century, the cultural influence remained. Like most societies under colonial or imperial rule, Arabs looked up to Turkey and everything Turkish. Many things were borrowed, adopted, integrated, and imitated.
My knowledge of many of these words was when I encountered them when visiting Turkey twice in the 1990s as a tourist.
Words
| Arabic | Turkish | Description |
|---|---|---|
| كوبري | Kobru | Brigde. The original Arabic words is جسر (Jessr) or قنطرة (Qantara). The latter was borrowed into Spansih. |
| كات | Kat | ِA story in a building. This word is used in the old part of Alexandria, and is almost unique in Egypt. The correct Arabic term is طابق (Tabiq). |
| أوضة | Oda | Room. This is used in Egypt. The original Arabic is غرفة (Ghorfa) |
| أفندم | Afandem | Affirmative answer. Used when replying to a superior, specially in the military. |
| أيوة | Aywa | Affirmative answer. In everyday use. |
| تمام | Tamam | Equivalent to "OK" |
| خلاص | Khalas | "Finished", "over", "done" |
| وابور | Vapur | The Turkish word seem to be derived from a European word (Vapour), and refers to steam engines. Nowadays it is used for ferry boats. In Arab countries, it is used for the steam engine of a train. |
| دولاب | Dolap | Cupboard/Wardrobe |
| بوظة | Boza | Ice cream |
| كازوزة | Gazuz | Any carbonated drink |
| ياميش | Yamish | Nuts and dried fruits. Commonly consumed in the fasting month of Ramadan. In Arabic it is known as نقل (Noqol) |
| دوغري | Doghru | ٍStraight |
| دولمة | Dolma | Vegetables stuffed with rice and minced meat, and cooked in oil. |
| طرشي | Torsu | Pickles |
| بسطرمة | Bastirma | Dried meat encased in a mixture of garlic and fenugreek seed and spices. Came to Egypt from Turkey |
| قطايف | Kadaeyf | The same word is used for different desserts in Turkey and Egypt. In Turkey it is the thin vermicelli like thing baked in the oven, and smothered with thick syrup, and stuffed with nuts, raisin, or saltless cheese. In Egypt, it is a sort of small pancakes that are rolled with nuts and raisins stuffing, then deep fried, and then dipped in syrup. The name is definitiely of Arabic origin, from the root قطف which means "picking of fruit from their trees". |
Job Titles
Many job titles in modern Arabic are actually Turkish. It is relatively easy to detect those, since they end with the "-ji" suffix. In Egypt, the J sound becomes G (like in Garden). Many of those have become family names.
| Arabic | Turkish | Description |
|---|---|---|
| شيشكلي | Shishekli | Flower seller. Known in Syria. |
| مكوجي | Makwaji | Clothes ironer. |
| سفرجي | Sofraji | Waiter. |
| شوربجي | Shorbaji | Soup maker |
| خاشقجي | Khashokji | Spoon maker. In Topkapi Museum in Istanbul, there is a diamond called after that name. Also, the Saudi millionnaire arms dealer Adnan Khashokji is named so. |
| طوبجي | Tobji | Gunner/Artillery |
| صابونجي | Sabonji | Soap maker |
| عطشجي | 'Tishji | Train water (from the days of steam engines) |
| قهوجي | Qahwaji | Coffee shop waiter |
| بلتاجي | Beltaji | ? |
| توتنجي | Tutunji | Tobacco seller |
| عبه جي | Abbaji | ? |
| كبابجي | Kababji | Maker of Kabab (skewered meat) |
| قبطان | Koboudan | Captain (pilot at sea) |
| قبودان | " | Variant of above |
| كبودان | " | Variant of above |
Military Ranks
Many military ranks of Turkish origins were in use in Arab countries until recently. Although the formal titles are now Arabic, the Turkish ones are still in conversational use.
| Arabic | Turkish | Description |
|---|---|---|
| أمباشي | Umbashi | |
| بكباشي | Bekbashi | |
| يوزباشي | Yozbashi | |
| شاويش | Shawush | |
| جاويش | " | Variant of above |
| أميرالاي | Amir Alai | |
Proper Names
Many proper names in modern Arabic are actually Turkish names. The strange thing about those is that all of them have Arabic roots, mostly from the Quran, Islam's revealed text, or from certain ideal values and qualities. Such borrowing then reverse borrowing is a very interesting phenomenon. All of these end in the ي Arabic letter (-i or -y when romanized), which approximates the Turkish sound. Others have the -t.
| Arabic | Turkish | Description |
|---|---|---|
| مجدي | Mejdu | From Arabic Majd: Glory |
| شكري | Shokru | From Arabic Shokr: giving thanks (to God) |
| صبري | Sabru | From Arabic Sabr: patience |
| يسري | Yosru | From Arabic Yosr: Ease |
| فكري | Fikri | From Arabic Fikr: Thought |
| حكمت | Hikmat | From Arabic Hikma: Wisdom |
| حشمت | Hishmat | From Arabic Hishma: Modesty, proper attire |
| عزت | Izzat | From Arabic 'Izza: pride (?) |
| عصمت | Ismat | From Arabic 'Isma: protection (by God) |
| شوكت | Shawkat | From Arabic Shawka: Power |
Comments
Khalid
muasir
Wed, 2010/06/02 - 09:52Yes, "muasir" معاصر is Arabic, and means "contemporary" rather than "modern".
"Modern" could be taken from French rather than English, e.g. "style modern", in fashion and interior and exterior design. Both in Arab countries and in Turkey.
Anonymous (not verified)
"âsrî" is modern in old
Sat, 2021/05/22 - 15:58"âsrî" is modern in old Turkish
A Turk (not verified)
The word "Boza"
Wed, 2010/06/02 - 04:43Firstly, this is a nice work.
We are (mostly) muslims, therefore we have a close relationship with the arab culture and language. Altough, there is no many thing from the arab lyfe-style in our daily life, we use many many many arabic words those generally comes from Kur'an-ı Kerim, our holy book. Naturally, becouse we lived together along many years, arabic language may have borrowed somw turkish words. Today, because of some radical nationalists or laic people, the words those come from arabic language to turkish are being tried to eliminate, but there are still many many arabic words in my language, names, verbs, adjectives etc...
By the way, the word "boza" does not mean "ice cream" in my language. It is a kind of drink, genereally drunk in cold winter nights traditionally. If you keep it long, it is fermentated and may turn to a kind of alcoholic drink. The word "ice cream" is "dondurma" in turkish, probably you never heard of it.
Selam to everybody...
Jo (not verified)
Letters
Sat, 2011/03/05 - 14:10What arabic letters are used in Turkish? As in do they say ح or do they pronounce it as ه?
Same for ع do they say it as ء? And خ،ق،ط..?
biletci (not verified)
there is only one h sound in
Thu, 2012/02/16 - 02:13there is only one h sound in turkish, similar to that in english or ه in arabic. all arabic words who have ه خ ح have the identical h in turkish. (only vowels change)
in ottoman turkish, the letter h in turkish words were written with خ while arabic and persian words were kept in their original form. so, all letters in persian and arabic existed in ottoman turkish, however turkish words never use ع ظ ض ث ذ ح، and in addition the letter ه is used like in persian for the vowel "e". (with elif being a)
Anonymous (not verified)
Abaji
Fri, 2012/11/09 - 08:07Abaji or Abah-ji means Abah (abaya) maker
The Arabic cloak worn over the dish dash, mostly brown or black colour.
Anonymous (not verified)
funkalooza
Thu, 2012/12/06 - 01:31does anyone know what the word funkalooza means?
Anonymous (not verified)
most of the words are
Thu, 2017/05/11 - 12:03most of the words are actually from Turkish into Arabic (dogru)
Anonymous (not verified)
لكن
Tue, 2017/07/18 - 20:07لكن
laken
سبب
saybab
حب
ashk
قلب
kalp
شيطان
shaytan
عقرب
akrep
بطاطا
patates
طماط
domates
موز
muz
كيس
chanta
تمام
tamam
حساب
hesap
فاتوره
fatura
بسيطة
basit
قهوة
kahve
جاي
chay
قبول
kabul
كوب
fenjan
وقت
zaman
وقت
vakit
ساعه
saat
دقيقة
dakikat
يعني
yane
سيارة
araba
اشارة
esharet
حامل
hamile
بيبي
bebek
فردوس
jenet
جهنم
jehenem
عزرائيل
Azrail
صبر
sabir
دعاء
doaa
افتراء
iftira
قيامة
kiyamet
حياة
hayat
انسان
ensan
اللعنة
laney
تهديد
tehdit
استسلام
teslim
تقدير
tahmen
القدر
kadar
نصيب
hisse
شفاء
shifa
ضربة
darbe
قرار
karar
ربما
belki
شي
bir shay
اعتبار
hesap
دولة
dawlat
ظالم
zalemay
فقير
fakir
دنيا
donya
الأحوال
ahwal
العالم
alem
حقيقة
hakekat
امانة
amanet
مجبور
majbor
حاجه
haga
غرفة
oda
خزانة
dolap
دفتر
defter
تجارة
tejaret
فرق
fark
خبر
haber
حيوان
hayvan
اخلاق
ahlak
Saif (not verified)
More Words
Sun, 2017/08/06 - 15:11In Iraq, especially with older generations, there are these words which I have found to be of Turkish origin:
1.Chair - اسكملي - iskemle
2. Pipe (water pipe) - بوري - boru
3. Couch - قنفة - kanepe
4. Coat - پالطو - palto
5. Exactly - عيناً - aynen
6. Propeller (fan) - پروانه - pervane
7. Pear - عرموط - armut
8. Slow - يواش - yavaş
9. Shoe - بابوچ - pabuç
10. Cover (cap) - قبغ - kapak
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