Zayn

Zayn grew up in a special home. His family spoke the kingdom's main language. They also spoke an old Arabic language. They lived in the southern port-cities. These cities traded a lot. They traded with places in North Africa. They also traded with Arabic cities across the sea. This went on for hundreds of years. Arabic merchants had settled in the kingdom's southern port-cities. Some of their children's children married local people. When Zayn was born, the old Arabic language was mostly gone. But many Arabic words stayed in his family. Especially words for special jobs. His parents were teachers in the port-cities. They made sure to teach these words to their kids.

When Zayn was a teenager, he learned something. The English words he used daily were full of Arabic words. People in the south kept these words more than people in the north. Sugar, coffee, cotton, lemon, orange, syrup, mattress, sofa, magazine, algebra, algorithm, zero, cipher, zenith, azimuth, admiral, arsenal, alchemy, alcohol — all Arabic. The list was enormous. His parents slowly told him why. These words came into English over hundreds of years. They came from trading and learning. Math and science words came from old Arabic books. This happened a lot in a place called al-Andalus. It was a part of Spain ruled by Muslims. Arabic scholars there saved old Greek and Indian math. They added their own ideas too. Trading ships brought other words across the Mediterranean Sea.

By his twenties, Zayn was super interested in these words.

He didn't think about being a teacher back then. He worked as a clerk. It was at a shipping office. The office was in Aluria, a southern port-city. The shipping office had been busy. Zayn filled out papers for ships. He figured out how much things cost to send. He checked lists of stuff on the ships. He had been good at the work.