Etymology

assegai

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Today it means: A slim hardwood spear or javelin with an iron tip, especially those used by Bantu peoples of Southern Africa. Full definition →

French azagaie ← Portuguese azagaia ← Spanish azagaya
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The story

  1. Proto-Berber · derived from*zaġāya“spear”
  2. Arabic · derived fromاَلزَّغَايَة
  3. Afrikaans · borrowed fromassegaai
  4. Spanish · derived fromazagaya
  5. Portuguese · derived fromazagaia
  6. French · derived fromazagaie
  7. English todayassegai

From French azagaie (now zagaie) or Portuguese azagaia, Spanish azagaya, and later in the forms that have become most common borrowed from Afrikaans assegaai, from colloquial Arabic اَلزَّغَايَة (az-zaḡāya), from Proto-Berber *zaġāya (“spear”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.