Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Arabic ·1880s
Mascara
from maskharah
- Meaning
- Cosmetic applied to darken eyelashes.
- Source word
- maskharah
- Route into English
- Arabic *maskharah* (buffoon, masked character) → Spanish *máscara* (mask) → Italian *maschera* → English via the cosmetics industry. The mask-and-theatre sense came first.
- Arrived
- 1880s
From Arabic
Science, trade, and the Mediterranean transit of Andalusian scholarship gave English its Arabic stratum — especially in maths, chemistry, and commerce. Many entered through Latin or Italian.
English borrows.
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