Try Rocket Portuguese For Free! http://tinyurl.com/q5ksh4g Sign up now to get instant online access to the Rocket Portuguese Premium course for 6 days, PLUS, six daily emails full of hints and tips to guide you through making the most of your course! The Rocket Portuguese 6 Day Free trial is your ticket to discovering how well the Rocket Languages system will get you speaking and understanding Portuguese like a native, while cutting your learning time by up to 50%! Most of the lexicon of Portuguese is derived from Latin. Nevertheless, because of the Moorish occupation of the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages, and the participation of Portugal in the Age of Discovery, it has adopted loanwords from all over the world. Very few Portuguese words can be traced to the pre-Roman inhabitants of Portugal, which included the Gallaeci, Lusitanians, Celtici and Cynetes. The Phoenicians and Carthaginians, briefly present, also left some scarce traces. Some notable examples are abóbora "pumpkin" and bezerro "year-old calf", from the nearby Celtiberian language (probably through the Celtici); cerveja "beer", from Celtic; through Latin "cervisia." In the 5th century, the Iberian Peninsula (the Roman Hispania) was conquered by the Germanic Suebi and Visigoths. As they adopted the Roman civilization and language, however, these people contributed only a few words to the lexicon, mostly related to warfare—such as espora "spur", estaca "stake", and guerra "war", from Gothic *spaúra, *stakka, and *wirro, respectively. The influence also exists in toponymic surnames and patronymic surnames borne by Visigoth sovereigns and their descendants, and it dwells on placenames such has Ermesinde, Esposende and Resende where sinde and sende are derived from the Germanic "sinths" (military expedition) and in the case of Resende, the prefix re comes from Germanic "reths" (council). Between the 9th and 13th centuries, Portuguese acquired about 900 words from Arabic by influence of Moorish Iberia. They are often recognizable by the initial Arabic article a(l)-, and include many common words such as aldeia "village" from الضيعة alḍai`a (or from Edictum Rothari: aldii, aldias),[80] alface "lettuce" from الخس alkhass, armazém "warehouse" from المخزن almakhzan, and azeite "olive oil" from الزيت azzait. From Arabic came also the grammatically peculiar word oxalá إن شاء الله "hopefully". The Mozambican currency name metical was derived from the word متقال mitqāl, a unit of weight. The word Mozambique itself is from the Arabic name of sultan Muça Alebique (Musa Alibiki). Starting in the 15th century, the Portuguese maritime explorations led to the introduction of many loanwords from Asian languages. For instance, catana "cutlass" from Japanese katana and chá "tea" from Chinese chá. From South America came batata "potato", from Taino; ananás and abacaxi, from Tupi--Guarani naná and Tupi ibá cati, respectively (two species of pineapple), and tucano "toucan" from Guarani tucan. Portuguese language schools Portuguese language software Portuguese language training Portuguese lesson Portuguese lessons Portuguese names Portuguese online Portuguese phrases Portuguese school Portuguese software Portuguese translate Portuguese translation Portuguese translations Portuguese translator Portuguese tutor Portuguese vocabulary Portuguese words Portuguese writing learn basic Portuguese learn how to speak Portuguese learn Portuguese study Portuguese study Portuguese language teach me Portuguese

• published: 14 Dec 2013
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