[lowercased]

which looks like 'hazard' in english, which is (from mw dictionary)

* a source of danger * the effect of unpredictable and unanalyzable forces in determining events : chance, risk * a chance event : accident * a golf-course obstacle (such as a bunker or a pond) * a game of chance like craps played with two dice

i'd guess there's a connection? i'm no word historian person though...

[andredz]

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the origin of hazard is as follows:

Middle English (in hazard (sense 3 of the noun)): from Old French hasard, from Spanish azar, from Arabic az-zahr ‘chance, luck’, from Persian zār or Turkish zar ‘dice’

It bears mentioning, as an interesting fact that I just found about, that azzahr comes from Andalusi Arabic, and that zahr (in Arabic) means 'flower', from which the Spanish word azahar (the white flower on some trees such as orange trees) comes.

Etymologies from the most official Spanish dictionary:

azar: Del árabe hispánico *azzahr, y este del árabe zahr 'dado'; literalmente 'flores'.

azahar: Del árabe hispánico azzahár, y este del árabe clásico zahr 'flores'.

[gpderetta]

In Italian "gioco d'azzardo" has the exact same meaning as "juego de azar". But an "azzardo" is a dangerous or risky behavior or action (the implication being that doing it would be a gamble).

[KptMarchewa]

And in Polish 'hazard' just means gambling.

[emayljames]

I wonder if that became the word for gambling, on its own, due to the strong influence of Catholicism.