Arabic turns out to be very close to Indonesian life
PEKALONGAN PORTAL – If previously many people were surprised to learn that the words “office”, “police” and “towel” came from Dutch, then the influence of Arabic on Indonesian is much greater.
The arrival of Islam to the archipelago since the 13th century brought major changes in culture, education, literature and language. Thousands of Arabic vocabulary words were then absorbed into Malay which later developed into Indonesian.
Interestingly, most of these words are still used every day without realizing that they come from Arabic.
Starting from the words “news”, “just”, “knowledge”, to “congratulations”, everything has Arabic roots.
Why have so many Arabic words entered Indonesian?
Arabic influence came through several channels:
- Spread of Islam
- International trade
- Islamic boarding school education
- Islamic Sultanates of the Archipelago
- Classical literature and books
Because they were used for hundreds of years, many Arabic vocabulary eventually became an official part of the Indonesian language.
50 Indonesian words that come from Arabic
1–10
| Indonesian | Arabic |
|---|---|
| News | خبر (Khabar) |
| Fair | عادل (‘Just) |
| Sense | عقل (‘Aql) |
| Knowledge | علم (‘Ilm) |
| Age | زمان (Age) |
| Judge | حكيم (Judge) |
| World | دنيا (Dunya) |
| Hereafter | آخرة (End) |
| Be patient | صبر (Shabr) |
| I’m grateful | شكر (Shukr) |
11–20
| Indonesian | Arabic |
|---|---|
| Happy | سلامة (Salamah) |
| Blessing | بركة (Barakah) |
| Prayer | دعاء (Du’a) |
| Safe | أمان (Safe) |
| Disaster | مصيبة (Disaster) |
| Poor | فقير (Faqir) |
| Infidel | كافر (Infidel) |
| Assembly | مجلس (Majlis) |
| Must | واجب (Compulsory) |
| Sunnah | سنة (Sunnah) |
21–30
| Indonesian | Arabic |
|---|---|
| Book | كتاب (Book) |
| Chair | كرسي (Chair) |
| Law | حكم (Hukm) |
| Certificate | إجازة (Diploma) |
| Present | هدية (Hadiyah) |
| History | شجرة (Shajarah)* |
| Consensus | موافقة (Muwafaqah) |
| Deliberation | مشاورة (Deliberation) |
| People | رعية (Ra’iyyah) |
| Representative | وكيل (Deputy) |
*According to some linguists, the word “history” has an etymological relationship with the Arabic word “syajarah” which means tree or genealogy.
31–40
| Indonesian | Arabic |
|---|---|
| Corpse | جنازة (Janazah) |
| Understand | معلوم (Ma’lum) |
| Benefit | منفعة (Manfa’ah) |
| Enjoyment | نعمة (Ni’mah) |
| Sustenance | رزق (Rizq) |
| Paper | قرطاس (Qirthas) |
| Congregation | جماعة (Congregation) |
| Pronunciation | لفظ (Lafzh) |
| Orderly | ترتيب (Tartib) |
| Preacher | خطيب (Khatib) |
41–50
| Indonesian | Arabic |
|---|---|
| Friday | جمعة (Jumu’ah) |
| Eid Al-Fitr | عيد الفطر (‘Id al-Fitr) |
| Eid al-Adha | عيد الأضحى (‘Id al-Adha) |
| Ramadan | رمضان (Ramadan) |
| Zakat | زكاة (zakah) |
| Nature | فطرة (Fitrah) |
| Wisdom | حكمة (Wisdom) |
| Trustworthy | أمانة (Trust) |
| Faith | إيمان (Faith) |
| Islam | إسلام (Islam) |
Arabic Words Are Not Only Used in Religion
Many people think that Arabic loan words are only related to worship.
In fact, this is not the case.
Words like:
- news,
- benefit,
- history,
- people,
- representative,
- law,
- chair,
used in everyday life, education, government, and mass media.
This means that the influence of Arabic on Indonesian goes far beyond purely religious matters.
Indonesian is a Fusion of Many Civilizations
The uniqueness of Indonesian lies in its ability to absorb vocabulary from various nations.
Apart from Arabic, Indonesian is also influenced by:
- Sanskrit
- Dutch
- Portuguese
- English
- Chinese
- Java
- Tamil
Because of this, Indonesian is one of the richest languages in the world in terms of borrowed vocabulary.
Conclusion
Arabic has a huge influence on the development of the Indonesian language. Many words that are now considered a natural part of the Indonesian language actually come from Arabic and have been used for hundreds of years.
Starting from the words “news”, “fair”, “trust” to “fortune”, everything is proof of how the interaction of culture and religion shapes the language used by Indonesian society today.
So, the next time you say the words “news”, “benefits” or “gratitude”, you are actually using the Arabic language heritage that has lived and developed in the archipelago for centuries.***
