From the Arabian Peninsula to the Philippines: An Etymological and Sociolinguistic Analysis of Arabic Loanwords in the Filipino Language

Abstract

Arabic contact with the Philippine archipelago dates to the 9th century through trade, da’wah, and sustained cultural exchange, yet its lexical legacy in Filipino (the standardized national language of the Philippines, based on Tagalog but incorporating elements from other Philippine languages) remains understudied compared with Spanish and English influences. This study presents an integrated corpus-based mapping of Arabic-derived vocabulary in Filipino and selected Philippine languages, combining corpus analysis with historical-etymological validation and contextual sociolinguistic interpretation. The authors identify and validate 285 Arabic-derived lexical items across eight semantic domains, with Religion and Islamic Practice (32%), Commerce and Trade (18%), and Law, Justice, and Governance (15%) leading the list. Phonological analysis documents systematic adaptations of consonant cluster simplification, vowel quality modification, and prosodic regularization consistent with Austronesian phonotactic constraints. Within the study corpus, texts originating from Muslim-majority regions displayed the greatest diversity of Arabic-derived vocabulary, while high-frequency items such as salamat (thank you) occurred across multiple regions and registers. The study makes three contributions: it delivers the most extensive validated inventory of Arabic loanwords in Filipino to date; it establishes a replicable framework that combines corpus, etymological, and sociolinguistic evidence; and it reframes these loanwords as material markers of cultural hybridity and Islamic identity rather than as a peripheral historical residue. Findings support more pluralistic accounts of Filipino linguistic history, with implications for heritage language education, intercultural dialogue, and the cultural affirmation of Muslim Filipino communities.