caravan

Persian kārvān, a company of travellers crossing the desert together, was picked up by Crusaders as Old French carvane; in England it later named a covered wagon, then a trailer, and gave us the word van. The same word named Kairouan in Tunisia and runs through Turkish, Urdu, Italian and Russian.

Weakest linkProbable

The road to English

From Persian to Ottoman Turkish, Turkish

From Middle Persian to Arabic

From Persian to Urdu

From Persian to Italian, Spanish

From Persian to Russian

From Middle French to French, German

520 BCEOld Persian

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

Trade, money & letters