Etymological origin of Spanish words "camisa" and "almohada"?

[Sikeliot]

Camisa = shirt
Almohada = pillow

Camisa comes from the Latin word camisia which means nightgown. But the Arabic word for shirt is "kameez", قميص. It is used throughout the Arabic speaking world.

How did this happen? I always assumed that since the word is of Latin origin, it came into Arabic from Spanish following the Reconquista. But how would that explain why Arabs in the Levant or the Arabian Peninsula use that as the word for shirt?

Also similar is the Arabic word for pants, بنطلون (bantalun, I think you'd transliterate it as).


Almohada obviously comes from the Almohad dynasty that came from Morocco. So why does it mean "pillow" today?

[Incal]

Camisa comes from the Latin word camisia which means nightgown. But the Arabic word for shirt is "kameez", قميص. It is used throughout the Arabic speaking world.

How did this happen? I always assumed that since the word is of Latin origin, it came into Arabic from Spanish following the Reconquista. But how would that explain why Arabs in the Levant or the Arabian Peninsula use that as the word for shirt?

Also similar is the Arabic word for pants, بنطلون (bantalun, I think you'd transliterate it as).

Because they didn't have a word for that and they took it from the North Africans. I had a chat about this with a Saudi classmate a long time ago. (The same with bantalun/pantalon).

[Onur]

Sikeliot, google for Arabic influence in Spanish. These two words aren't the only ones.

This is the heritage from muslim Andalusia but it is not only from Arabs but also from Jews too.

[Ouistreham]

Camisa comes from the Latin word camisia which means nightgown. But the Arabic word for shirt is "kameez", قميص. It is used throughout the Arabic speaking world.

This is interesting.

There is another very intriguing case with the popular North African Arabic word for woman, which is pronounced "mook'hair", pronounced like Sp. mujer.

It obviously originates from Latin "mulier", but this word wasn't passed to any Romance language or dialect (in France there's only femme, Italians and Catalans use donna or dona (from domina), sometimes femina), except for Spanish and Portuguese.

So, the question is: was the Maghrebi Arabic word an early borrowing from Latin that was introduced in Iberia, or was it the other way round?

BTW "mouk'hère" is derogative French slang for a Muslim woman.

[Comte Arnau]

I always assumed that since the word is of Latin origin, it came into Arabic from Spanish following the Reconquista. But how would that explain why Arabs in the Levant or the Arabian Peninsula use that as the word for shirt?

Also similar is the Arabic word for pants, بنطلون (bantalun, I think you'd transliterate it as).

Bantalun would hardly pass from Spanish to Arabic with the Reconquista, as the word is based on the Venetian character Pantalone, from the late 16th century.

Almohada obviously comes from the Almohad dynasty that came from Morocco. So why does it mean "pillow" today?

It means pillow because it obviously isn't related to the Almohads. The Almohads in Arabic are Al-Muwahhidun, that is, the Unified or Monotheists. While the Spanish word almohada comes from Hispano-Arabic al-muhadda, in Classical Arabic mihaddah, which comes from hadd "cheek". So basically, where you lay your cheek. Just like the French call it oreiller, that is, where you lay your ear.

In Spanish, btw, Almohad is almohade, with an e, so it doesn't coincide with almohada, pillow.

It obviously originates from Latin "mulier", but this word wasn't passed to any Romance language or dialect (in France there's only femme, Italians and Catalans use donna or dona (from domina), sometimes femina), except for Spanish and Portuguese.

We Catalans and Italians use MULIER too (muller and moglie, respectively), but for a married woman.

[Couscous Nomad]

The Arabic word for trousers is Sirwal,it is a Persian loan word . Bantalun is only used in Egypt and Asia,as far as I know.
Qamees most likely didn't come from Latin because the word is present in The Quran and has a root in Arabic.

And both ran towards the door, and the woman tore his shirt from behind, and both met the husband of thewoman near the door. She said 'what is the punishment of him who desired evil with your wife, but that heshould be imprisoned or a painful chastisement?'

[rashka]

Etymology of pantaloon
Derived from French pantalon, itself derived from Italian pantalone, named after San Pantalone (Saint Pantaleon). http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pantaloons#English


Camisa sounds like the French word Chemise. The origin is Celtic.

[Cristiano viejo]

Sikeliot, google for Arabic influence in Spanish. These two words aren't the only ones.

This is the heritage from muslim Andalusia but it is not only from Arabs but also from Jews too.

The word "Assassin" in English:

The word "Assassin" comes from Hashshashin, a Muslim group that was active in the Middle East from the 8th to the 14th centuries. This secret society killed people for political and religious reasons. It is thought that the assassins were under the influence of hashish and opium during their killings or during their training. The word assassin comes from either hashashim, the influence of the drugs, or hassansin, after their leader, Hassan-i Sabbah.

Heritage too?

[HispaniaSagrada]

Interesting. In Portuguese "almofada" (in my experience) usually means "pillow" but it's the bigger kind that goes on sofas or the kind people decorate their beds with but don't really use. The "al" in it is evidence it could be Arab. I just looked and priberam.pt says it's Arab in origin (al-mukhaddâ). A normal pillow is "travesseira." A mattress would be "colchao"

In Portuguese "camisa" would be a shirt with collar and buttons. A generic "shirt" is "camisola." Priberam.pt says it's Latin in origin.

I find these things interesting like the pumpkin comparison "abobora" "cabaca" "calabaza" etc., from a while back.

"Pantalao" is a jackass. "Pantaloes" exists and also means "pants" but I never hear it used. Everyone I've ever heard says "calҫas" for "pants" and yet "calҫado" means "footwear" but shoes is "sapatos!"

Where's the consistency???

My brain is melting.