Turkish Word in English: Tulip

The English word "tulip" comes from Turkish tülbent, which is in turn from Persian dulband, meaning "turban." The flower was brought from Turkey to Europe in the 16th century. It Italian you can still see the -an ending, tulipano. But we lost that in English, making this delightful etymology less easy to discern.

I found this bit of version in Flora's Dictionary: A Treatise on the Language of Flowers. It is from Thomas Moore's poem The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan.

What triumph crowds the rich Divan to-day, 
With turban'd heads, of every hue and race, 
Bowing before that veil'd and awful face, 
Like tulip-beds, of different shape and dyes, 
Bending beneath th' invisible west-wind's sighs. 

(Wiktionary: Tulip) 

Turkish Word in English: Caviar

The English word CAVIAR comes from French caviar, which is in turn from Turkish khaviar. The word is surely not Turkish in origin, but it is unclear just where it comes from. It seems likely that the word comes from Persian khavyar, and for a detailed discussion of the etymology of the Persian word, see this item: Kneading a meaning: Etymology of Caviar.

Caviar is one of my favorite foods! This article at Gilded Fork provides an overview of the different kinds of caviar: Caviar: An Endangered Pleasure.

Turkish Word in English: Baklava

The English word BAKLAVA is a Turkish word. It is sometimes spelled baclava in English. Its usage in English dates back to the 17th century. For speculation about the origins of the Turkish word, see the Wikipedia article.

I love baklava! The image below shows baklava in of the Beypazarı district in Ankara, Turkey:

Turkic Word in English: Horde

The English word HORDE comes from a Turkic source; compare Turkish ordu, meaning a camp or an army. You can see the word as orda in Russian, and horda in Polish. The word "horde" originally referred to a nomadic tribe or wandering group of people. Over time, "horde" came to refer to any large gathering of people, especially wild or fierce people.

The English word "horde" is very often confused with "hoard," a word that can be used as a noun (meaning treasure, especially hidden treasure) and also as a verb (meaning to store up, to hide away for future use). The word "hoard" is Germanic in origin, unlike the Turkic "horde."

Just to make things more confusing, the phrase "Golden Horde" refers to a Mongolian khanate which ruled over most of Eastern Europe in the 13th century, covering a territory reaching from the Urals to the Danube as well as most of Siberia, and ranging south down to the Black Sea. Hence the Russian borrowing of this word, along with many other words of Mongolian and Turkic origin. You can read more about the Golden Horde at Wikipedia. The use of the word "golden" in this phrase adds to the confusion with the English word "hoard," meaning "treasure."

The illustration below shows the Mongolian "horde" at the Battle of Mohi in 1241. You can read more about the Mongolian invasion of Europe at Wikipedia.

Persian Word in English: Jackal

The English word "jackal" is from the Turkish çakal, which in turn comes from Persian shaghal. The Persian is either cognate with or derived from Sanskrit srgalas.

From the Oxford English Dictionary, I learned that in some English dialects the word was stressed on the second syllable, and thus sometimes spelled "jackcall" or even "Joe-caul" as in this citation from 1672: They must not be like the Joe-caul, which provides food for the Lyon.

Two of the most famous characters in the Indian storytelling tradition are the treacherous jackals, Karataka and Damanaka, of the Panchatantra. The jackals are named Kalila and Dimna in the Arabic version, known as Kalila-wa-Dimna. The image below is from a 15th-century Persian version of the story and shows one the jackals intriguing with the lion king:

Turkish Word in English: Sherbet

The English word SHERBET began its life in English as zerbet, from Turkish serbet, a drink made from sweetened fruit juice cooled with snow. The Turkish word in turn came from Persian sharbat and Arabic sharba, meaning a "drink," from the verb shariba, "drink."

In British English, "sherbet powder" is a fizzy powder sweet which can be eaten on its own or used to make a fizzy drink. You can read about the many varieties of sherbet powders in this Wikipedia article. In the world of Harry Potter, Dumbledore is very fond of "sherbet lemons," although in the U.S. version of the book, the text is changed to "lemon drops."

In the U.S., a sherbet (often pronounced "sherbert") is a frozen dessert like a sorbet, but with a small amount of milkfat. You can find a recipe for strawberry sherbet at the Eat-Drink-Love.com website.