Your Egypt

[Hoss]

This article is from the Egyptian Chronicles web site :

A survey of daily news shows that the subject of killing is one of the most prolific topic dealt with in the media. This does not come as a surprise since in terms of frequency, the word "Kill" ranks 657th of the commonly used words in English.

In past episodes we dealt with terms like harass, harsh, hit, hurt, and fatigue. In Episode IV of Parallel Universe; Alternate Etymologies, I felt it appropriate to extend this research to investigate the roots of the word "Kill" in the English language.


BACKGROUND:

Unlike the 21st century, cultural and technological enrichment in 14th century was primarily from East to West; Europe was underdeveloped by Middle Eastern standards and had little to give in return.



(Saracens* and the Making of English Identity: The Auchinleck Manuscript.)


So great was the Muslim impact on Medieval West in general and England in particular, that lately, Medieval historians are starting to re-assess this impact under new light.


As a consequence of this cultural contact, Western writers adapted many oriental stories, popular ballads which provided the illiterate masses of Europe with both pleasure and information. Among these literary works was " The King of Tars" in 1330. A story which took place in Syria during the Crusades.


The novel is of a great relevance to this etymological investigation, since the word "Kill" made its first appearance in this novel and was introduced to Middle English. This investigation will show how the word "Kill" was directly borrowed from the Classical Arabic language.



To learn more about the etymology of the word "kill" as well as related terms such as guile, beguile, gull, and ghoul. click on the icon below:





http://www.theegyptianchronicles.com/CULTURE/KILL_04.html





To access the table of contents of previous episodes of this series including the introduction, click on the icon below:





http://www.theegyptianchronicles.com/CULTURE/ParallelUniverseFIHRIS.html





* Saracens = A term designating an Arab, or a Muslim, especially of the time of the Crusades.


Ishinan