Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by andredz 1861 days ago
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'.