1. This and nearly all other definitions and transliterations are from Wehr's Arabic-English Dictionary (Fourth Edition, Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1979). I vary only in using aa, uu and ii for long vowels, and ‘ah’ for Arabic ending ö.

2. See The Oxford English Dictionary where the original is listed as al-manaakh, Spanish Arabic (not found in Wehr).

3. See Partridge, Eric, Origins, 1958, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 4th Ed, 1966, p. 680.Google ScholarPubMed His Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, Vol 2, also includes shufty (from the Arabic imperative shuuf), this minimal Army and RAF Arabic for ‘look’ or ‘watch’. Also he has the related shuftiscope, an instrument used by a doctor for research in cases of dysentery (1930), shufty-hatch, shufty-truck (scoutcar), shufty-kite (reconaissance aircraft), and even shufty-bint, ‘a woman willing to reveal her charms’ (Vol 2, 7th Ed. 1970).

4. See OED Compact Edition, 1971, p. 55. ‘The learned Algorism passed through many pseudoetymological perversions, including a recent algorithm in which it is learnedly confused with Greek αρι θμòς, (number).’

5. See Smith, Logan Pearsall, The English Language, Oxford University Press, 3rd Ed, 1966, p. 109.Google Scholar

6. See McArthur, Tom, ‘New words, new wordbooks: Oxford,’ ET730, 1992, p. 28.Google Scholar

7. See OED, Compact Edition, 1971, p. 1129.Google Scholar