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Words That Travelled

The routes by which trade, encounters and learning reshaped English.

Words cross borders with objects, habits and knowledge. Their changing sounds preserve traces of the languages and people they passed through.

In approximate historical order, from the origins and events behind the words.

  1. zero (n.)empty
  2. algebra (n.)once setting broken bones
  3. turquoise (n.)the Turkish stone
  4. tulip (n.)a turban in its name
  5. kiosk (n.)once a garden pavilion
  6. yacht (n.)built for the chase
  7. bosh (n.)from Turkish

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