Random Information in Linguistics

the word orangutan is borrowed into English from a Malay word literally meaning ‘forest man’ (orang ‘man’, utan ‘forest’), (ch.6, p. 2)

One of the main differences between the two languages Hindi and Urdu is that Hindi borrows from Sanskrit, while Urdu borrows from Arabic and Persian. For instance, one of the Hindi words for ‘thank you’ is dhanyava1d, which is a recent borrowing from Sanskrit, while the common Urdu word is shukriya1, which is derived from Arabic. (6, 2)

Borrowed elements that fill a lexical gap in the recipient language are called cultural borrowings. They are often introduced along with a new thing and/or a new concept, such as the Japanese word sushi, the Chinese concept paper tiger and the Swahili word safari in many Western languages. (6,3)

In English, the ligature < æ> is sometimes used in words like encyclopædia. (8,6)
Do you remember when the ligature was used? None of my students do. But I still have a hard time with spelling the word encyclopaedia because I think it should have that ligature. (Not that I knew it was called a ligature, mind you.)

fromLinguistics for Students of Asian and African Languages.