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giraffe

Arabic zarāfa reached Turkish as zürafa and Italian as giraffa, made famous when Egyptian sultans sent giraffes to European courts; French and then English took it from Italian, and by 1600 it had pushed out the old Greek-Latin 'camelopard'. Where the Arabic word itself comes from is unknown.

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The story you may have heard

Zarāfa is often said to mean 'fast walker' or 'lovely one' in Arabic. No Arabic dictionary gives either meaning; the origin of the word is simply unknown.

The road to English

From Arabic to Middle English

From Arabic to Old Spanish

From Arabic to Old French

From Italian to Spanish

From Italian to Portuguese

From Arabic to Persian

From Arabic to Ottoman Turkish, Turkish

From Italian to Middle French

From Middle French to German

From Middle French to French, Russian

850 CEArabic

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

giraffe

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The road to English

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