Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Word Associations

Our teacher is obsessed with them. He shows us how most of the words in the English language have been derived from Arabic. One lesson, he was telling us how many of the places in Africa have come from the Arabic language. Just like when the Europeans landed in America and named the city 'New' York, in the same way, the Arabs when they reached Africa named the city 'Nairobi' or 'Nay (new) Aruba (Arabia). Mombasa is 'New Basra' and Arusha is 'Arustatal Bahr' or Bride of the Sea (i.e. Mermaid)!

Nigeria comes from 'Nay Gariya' (Gariya is how the coastal people pronounce 'qariya'- village)

Even Europe comes from 'Euroba' (Aruba- Arabia!)

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