Speaking the enemy's tongue: (Was: A problem solved: Arabisms in Spanish)

Orjan Johansen wrote:
>=20
> On Thu, 18 Feb 1999, Raymond A. Brown wrote:
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> > But that is not the question. It is: Could initial unstressed /inS/ h=
ave
> > become /oS/ ?
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> A thought:  Might this rather be a deliberate euphemism?  After all, go=
ing
> around speaking proper Moslem phrases must have been rather _unhealthy_
> during certain periods of Spanish history...
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> Greetings,
> =D8rjan.
A great idea - although you'd imagine that if so, it would be the
"Allah" bit they'd have been concerned to get rid of. Actually, you make
me think about an interesting, and not completely unrelated, area: the
use by nations/languages of expressions drawn from "enemy" languages.  I
gather that even during the years when the PLO and Israel were
completely and mutually hostile, Yasser Arafat used to enjoy using the
Hebrew expression "rega'" (literally "an instant," and meaning "hold on
a sec'") at meetings of the PLO's official bodies.  Similarly, one can
occasionally hear equally inconcgruous expressions from Israelis, such
as a settler in the West Bank / Judea and Samaria stating that
"inshallah we will be building many more homes here over the coming
years."=20

What Allah feels about this kind of thing - Allah knows



        Shaul