English Words from Arabic
arsenal
دارُ الصِّناعَة
dār aṣ-ṣināʿa
Arabs called a shipyard dār aṣ-ṣināʿa, "house of manufacture". Italy took the word: Genoa said darsena, and Venice, taking the d for the preposition di, dropped it – arzanà, the name of its naval dockyard. From there came arsenal; it came back to Arabic as tarsāna.
- Meaning in Arabic
- house of manufacture, shipyard
- Arabic today says
- التَّرْسانَة
The path between languagesdār aṣ-ṣināʿa → darsena → arzanà → arsenal
It left Arabic and came back to it in its European form.
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