The English language has been developed from an Anglo-Saxon base and the percentage of words derived from each language group is as follows: French – 29 percent, Latin - 29 percent, Germanic - 26 percent, others – 16 percent. In this issue, we study some more curious origins of words (beginning from B-D), deriving from the ‘other’ languages.

Bamboo

Origin - From Dutch bamboe, from Portuguese bamboo, earlier mambu (16th Century), probably also from Malay samambu

Batik

Origin - from Malay mbatik (writing, drawing)

Bicker

Origin - probably from Dutch bicken (to slash, stab, attack)

Blaze

Origin - from Dutch blasen (to blow, on a trumpet)

Blink

Origin - from Dutch blinken (to glitter)

Bluff

Origin - from Dutch bluffen (to brag, boast) or verbluffen (to baffle, mislead)

Booze

Origin - from Dutch busen (to drink in excess)

Bully

Origin - from Danish boel (lover, brother), from German buole

Bundle

Origin - from Dutch bondel (diminutive of bond)

Cipher

Origin - from (Arab) sifr zero. Cipher came to Europe with Arabic numerals. Original meaning zero, then any numeral, then numerically encoded message.

Cheetah

Origin - from Hindi chita ‘a leopard’, from Sanskrit chitraka, which means ‘speckled’

Chit

Origin - from Hindi chitthi ‘a letter or note’ which is from Sanskrit chitra-s ‘uniquely marked’

Cot

Origin - from Hindi at ‘a couch’, which is from Sanskrit khatva

Crimson

Origin - from Old Spanish cremesin, from Arabic qirmiz ‘a kermes’, which is ultimately from Sanskrit krmi-ja literally: ‘red dye produced by a worm.’

Catamaran

Origin - from Tamil ka??umaram (kattu - tie up, maram - wood)

Coir

Origin- from the Tamil word kayiru for rope or thread or to be twisted

Cam

Origin - from Dutch cam (cog of a wheel)

Coleslaw

Origin - from Dutch koolsla (literally, cabbage salad)

Commodore

Origin - probably from Dutch kommandeur, from French commandeur, from Old French comandeor

Cookie

Origin - from koekje, or in informal Dutch koekie (biscuit)

Cruise

Origin - from Dutch kruisen (to cross, sail to and from), from kruis (cross)

Dahl

Origin - through Hindi d?l ultimately from Sanskrit dalah, meaning cotyledon of a pea pod, a type of Indian food, also refers to lentil in the US

Dinghy

Origin - from Hindi dingi ‘a tiny boat’, probably from Sanskrit drona-m

Dam

Origin - from Dutch dam (compare Amsterdam or Rotterdam)

Dapper

Origin - from Dutch or German dapper (bold, strong, sturdy)

Deck

Origin - from dek (originally ‘covering’)

Decoy

Origin - from de kooi (the cage, used of a pond surrounded by nets, into which wildfowl were lured for capture)

Dope

Origin - comes from the Dutch verb dopen (usually ‘to baptize,’ ‘to dip in’)