עמבה

Hebrew

Etymology

From Iraqi Arabic عَمْبَة (ʕamba, “amba”), which has obtained it via the port of Baṣra from Marathi आंबा (āmbā, “mango”) from Sanskrit आम्र (āmra, “mango”) in the years of the British East India Company governing India, when Arabic-speaking Baghdadi Jews pursued business in Bombay and met Marathi-speaking Bene Israel Jews, and exported canned mangos to the Iraq. Later the descendants of the same Baghdadi Jews go to Israel, but even the non-Jewish Baghdadis pass this word to Israeli Hebrew.

Noun

עַמְבָּה • ('ámba) f

1. amba (a tangy mango pickle used as a condiment in the Middle East)

Descendants

• → English: amba

References

• Kaufman, Jared (2015) “On the Virtues of Amba”, in The Tower‎^[1], number 29