Trade, money & letters

camel

The Greeks met the camel through Semitic-speaking traders of the Levant and took its name along with it. Greek passed the word east into Sanskrit and, through Byzantium, to the Balkans and medieval German; Latin carried it to every language of western Europe and on to the Philippines, and Dutch settlers in South Africa used it for the giraffe, their 'camel-horse'.

Weakest linkProbable

The road to English

From Latin to Old French, French

From Latin to Old Spanish, Tagalog

From Latin to Italian

From Latin to Portuguese

From Latin to Middle Dutch, Dutch, Afrikaans

From Ancient Greek to Byzantine Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian

From Byzantine Greek to Modern Greek

From Byzantine Greek to Middle High German, German

From Ancient Greek to Sanskrit

3000 BCEProto-Semitic

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.