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Arabic words in the tech dictionary

خوارزمية algorithm

From al-Khwārizmī, the scholar who worked in Baghdad in the 9th century.

جبر algebra

From al-jabr, a word in the title of his book on calculation.

صِفر cipher

From ṣifr, “empty”; the word zero comes from it too.

كيمياء alchemy

Entered English through Arabic. It is where the Alchemist track gets its name.

سَمت azimuth

From as-sumūt, the plural of as-samt, “the way, direction”. It reached English in the 14th century through Old French.

سَمت الرأس zenith

Short for samt ar-ra’s, “the way over the head”. Medieval Latin scribes misread the m, and the word changed shape on its way to zenith.

نظير السَّمت nadir

From nazīr as-samt, “the opposite”: in astronomy the point directly beneath you; today it also means a lowest point.

مخزن magazine

From makhāzin, the plural of makhzan, “storehouse”. It came through Italian and French, and a magazine is, in the end, a storehouse of articles.