War, law & rule

sultan

Arabic sulṭān meant 'power, authority' before it meant the man who held it; the title went east to Delhi, Malacca and Zanzibar, crusader-era English called Muslim rulers soldan, the modern form came from French in the 1550s, and Italian sultana later named a raisin.

Weakest linkCertain

The road to English

From Arabic to Medieval Latin, Old French, Middle English

From Arabic to Malay

From Arabic to Persian, Hindi

From Arabic to Swahili

From Ottoman Turkish to Russian

From Arabic to Italian

From Italian to English

From Middle French to Spanish

From Middle French to German

650 CEArabic

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

The road to English

From Arabic to Persian, Hindi

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