Grammatical Migrating Words from Arabic into French The Cases of Qahwa (Coffee) and Qamīṣ (Shirt)

Abstract

The phenomenon of lexical borrowing among languages—particularly with regard to nouns denoting
concrete objects such as place names, proper nouns, plants, tools, manufactured items, and inventions—
has seen significant expansion. Such terms often migrate alongside the objects or concepts they denote,
moving across linguistic and cultural boundaries due to waves of human contact and civilizational
exchange. The example presented in this article provides clear evidence of this phenomenon, as seen in
the words "coffee" and "shirt." It is worth noting that there are countless other examples of vocabulary
that infiltrated other languages through contact with Arabic, especially during the flourishing of ArabIslamic civilization.