Languages are enriched by words adopted from other languages, especially for things that are new to that language. I am sure that with the Portuguese interaction with the Arabs and their intense rivalry in the spice trade, both Portuguese and Arabic adopted words from each others language. Kiswahili, the lingua franca of East Africa, especially the coastal region, has words adopted from German, English, Arabic, Portuguese and Hindi. A friend who accompanied me to East Africa a couple of decades ago, was surprised when he heard the words "kitabu" for book, and "kalamu" for pen. The word Kitab in Hindi may also have come from Arabic ?? Other words included "Bandera" for flag from the Portuguese as well as" mesa" for table. And from German came the word "schule" for school and "hela" for the money, because the German currency was the "Hellar" or "Thellar" Kiswahili is basically an African Bantu language, but the language was enriched by the nations and cultures that washed up on the East African shores.
