Wanderwort

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanderwort, 18 Febr. 2007:

A word that was spread among numerous languages and cultures, usually in connection with trade, so that it becomes impossible to establish its original etymology, or even its original language.

Due to it's 3000 year prevalence, Egyptian was central in the distribution of Wanderwords. In fact most known ancient Wanderwords have a representative in the Egyptian language, and many words in the Egyptian language are themselves super regional words, connected to wide-spread and well known word-clusters.

some prominent examples are:

kara char-coal-gray/black
ivory
der Tier/deer/leather
𓎼 𓎛 𓋴 𓃲 gazelle <> gracil = غ ز ل‎ ḡ-z-l
𓋴 𓂋 𓏮 𓃱 giraffe
𓃭 lion Löwen ⲗⲉⲱⲛ лъв ⲗⲁⲃⲟ 𒊊 lābu لَيْث‎ layṯ aslan (late) 𓃭𓏤𓇋𓏏𓂢 Levant L'Panther
𓃭 арыҫлан arïθlan! > aslan > lion առիւծ aṙiwc ⴰⵢⵔⴰⴷ ayrad אריא‎ aryā aristocrat ~ aryan ~ barath: 𓃭 parther ⲃⲉⲗⲑⲱⲛ perser 𒊊 PIRIĜ panter pitôlo (long-tail 𓄢𓄛𓄜) 𓋁𓃀𓏲𓄛𓏪 Levant L'Panther leopard 𓃬 𓃮
𓃭 Schirkan™ shirîkhân™+++ sher shachal رش shachats 𓌳𓇋𓎛𓋴𓃬 "şir-kahn" 狮 shī
𓃭 सिंह siṃhá simba सिंघ sĩṅgh ສິງ sing সিংহ xiṅho singa singer?
𓃭 amara ⲙⲟⲩⲓ ⲙⲱⲟⲩⲓ ⲙⲟⲩⲉⲓ mauretan mauritier murder (lamda ⲗⲉⲱⲛ-ⲙⲟⲩⲓ ?)
𓄝 shoot 𓋴𓏏𓄝 أسَد‎ ʾásad = 𓃭

sugar, ginger, cumin and tea

"One of the characteristics of these modern wandering words is that we can observe them rapidly spreading across Europe and beyond, and through many languages. They have had little time to undergo language-specific developments, and this is why the precise route of their wanderings is sometimes so difficult to trace: we have no sound-laws to guide us."

An alternative denomination for these kinds of words is internationalisms, although some prefer to reserve the latter term for technical innovations from the 19 th and 20 th century only, such as telephone, automobile and computer.