kamel

Inherited from Middle High German kemel, kemmel, kembel, borrowed during the Crusades from Byzantine Greek κάμηλος (kámēlos), probably in part also from Arabic جَمَل (jamal), which best explains the e-vocalism (as Arabic a is or even in this word). The modern form with final stress is a 16th-century learned alteration after Latin camēlus, itself from Ancient Greek, from a Semitic language. It was accordingly mostly spelt Kameel until the early 20th century (a spelling then abolished after word