A Semantic Study of Arabic Borrowings into English Lexicon
Borrowing words from one language into another traces several changes in their original meanings. So, in morphological process of borrowing of words from source language of Arabic into target language of English, a constant change of meaning is observed. The present study used to explore semantic innovation of Arabic borrowed words into English language. It is a qualitative study and descriptive in nature. A sample of 100 English words having Arabic origin was collected. These English words with Arabic origin have been chosen from multiple online sources and books. The results show that during the process of borrowing from Arabic into English language the words undergo semantic processes of pejoration, amelioration, broadening, narrowing and metaphorical extension. Findings of the study make it clear that Arabic influence in English language fetched certain semantic drifts for the understanding of historical linguists, sociolinguists, students and teachers to examine Arabic lexical borrowings and their influence on other languages.