





































 1 

Benjamin Hebblethwaite, Arabic Lexical Borrowings  
in German Rap Lyrics: 

Religious, Standard and Slang Lexical Semantic Fields 
 
Introduction 
This essay introduces the Arabic lexical field in German rap lyrics. The 
topic is understudied in the German scholarly literature and there are 
only a handful of articles that explore Arabic influences in urban 
German. The matter is scarcely known among English readers. Partly 
rooted in Jamaican toasting, the rap and hip-hop musical genre 
emerged in the 1970s in New York City (Chang 2005). Hip-hop music 
is comprised of an instrumental track called a “beat” and a lyrical track 
called “rapping.” Rapping is a lyrical form that uses poetic techniques 
to create an exciting rhythmic verbal flow for the delivery of “raps” 
which are poetic narratives. The poetic techniques include assonance, 
alliteration, rhyming, chopping, and acceleration, among others.  

Hip-hop music spread from the United States to France and 
Germany in the mid-1980s and has become a behemoth of their 
respective music industries since the mid-1990s. In Germany, the 
descendants of Arabic-speaking or Muslim immigrants (i.e. Turkish, 
Bosnian, Iranian, etc.), have become a significant presence in the 
genre over the last two decades. Arabic lexical influences are 
increasing. The Arabic lexicon in German rap lyrics can be divided into 
the religious, the everyday standard, and Arabic slang based on the 
semantic fields displayed in rap texts themselves. Of course many 
Arabic words in German are related to regional varieties of Arabic, but 
that is a topic beyond the scope of this essay. Some commentators, 
including rappers, use terms like “Kiezdeutsch,” “Kanak sprak” or 
“Kanakisch” in reference to the urban multi-ethnic German varieties 
(Freywald et al 2011:45). I will refer to the language of the German rap 
lyrics, however, as “urban German vernacular” as it is the most 
straightforward expression in English.  

Among the 27 nations of the European Union, Arabic speakers 
make up 0.9% of the total population and Arabic is the 20th most 
common language based on European Commission data from 2012.1 
The percentage of adults who speak Arabic as a native or learned 
language is 0.45% of Germany’s population and Arabic is the 13th 
ranked language.2 With regard to speakers of Turkish, at 2.67% of the 
population (5th ranked), insofar as they are Muslim, they are important 
for Arabic language contact in terms of the Islamic Arabic lexical field 

                                                        
1 Based on data collected by the European Commission: 
http://languageknowledge.eu/countries/eu27 
2 Based on data collected by the European Commission: 
http://languageknowledge.eu/countries/germany  

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in urban vernacular German.3 In Austria, Arabic speakers only make 
up 0.28% of the population (ranked 21st) while Turkish speakers are 
1.74% (ranked 7th). As Germany accepts an unprecedented 800,000 
refugees from war-torn parts of the Arab world in 2015 alone (Lyman et 
al. 2015), Arabic language and cultural contact will have magnified 
importance in the coming years. 
 Arabic speakers represent half of a percent in Germany; 
however, Arabic-borrowings are common in rap lyrics composed by 
Muslims, whether Arabic speakers or not. The 4,119,000 Muslims in 
Germany form 5% of the population. There are 475,000 Muslims in 
Austria, representing 5.7% of the population (Rogers 2011)4. In 
Germany and Austria, the parents and families of rappers or the 
rappers themselves have roots in Muslim-majority countries including 
Turkey (Alpa Gun, Eko Fresh), Iran (PA Sports, Fard, Nazar), 
Afghanistan (SadiQ), Ethiopia (Ammar114), Morocco (Dú Maroc, Abdi, 
Farid Bang), Algeria (Al-Gear), Iraq and Kurdish regions (Azad, Kurdo, 
Haftbefehl, KC Rebell), Bosnia (Celo), Lebanon (Motrip), Palestine 
(Massiv), Syria (Abu Abiat), and other countries. To give the reader 
some perspective, it is fair to say that a significant minority of rappers 
in Germany have Muslim heritage. Most Muslim or Muslim-heritage 
rappers in Germany draw upon the Arabic lexical field, to greater or 
lesser degrees, to attain different effects in their texts. 

As Islam’s sacred language, Arabic provides a shared 
linguistic culture among Muslims of any background. Since all khoutba 
(sermons) in languages other than Arabic necessarily include 
extensive Arabic language recitations from the Qur’an and the Hadith, 
in addition to many single word Arabic borrowings or expressions 
inserted into the sermon, Muslims of any language background who 
frequent a mosque will gradually acquire a range of Arabic religious 
terminology. Therefore, the observance of Islam, and the centrality of 
Arabic in the religion, form major influences that help explain the 
salience of this lexical field in German rap. As a religion associated 
with immigrants and their descendants, and one that suffers from a 
degree of suspicion and marginalization in Germany, the employment 
of Arabic terms in urban vernacular German represents an attempt to 
reverse Arabic’s precariousness. Drawing on Islam and Arabic, 
rappers assert a form of covert prestige that defends and asserts the 
Muslim faith, language, and identity.     

 
 

 

                                                        
3 Turkish-speakers also contribute many lexical items from Turkish into urban 
vernacular German and rap lyrics, but that is not my focus here. See: 
http://languageknowledge.eu/countries/germany 
4 http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/jan/28/muslim-population-
country-projection-2030 

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Domains of borrowing and illustrations from German  
Arabic lexical items lend themselves to categorization in three 
overarching lexical fields, the religious, the everyday standard, and 
slang. The religious lexical field is primarily composed of Arabic Islamic 
words and represents a large portion of the borrowings in German and 
French urban vernaculars. The lexical semantic field of religion is 
famously influential and resilient in language contact situations, 
including under severe conditions of duress (Holm 2000:114). For 
example, in spite of Haitian Vodou’s illegality and suppression under 
French colonialism, the religion’s lexical semantic field survives 
robustly. Obstacles to economic opportunities and social assimilation, 
combined with the perception that European secularist policies 
discriminate against Muslims, drives many young Muslims to reactively 
accentuate religious values in their speech, including in rap (Béthune 
2004:122; Boniface and Médine 2012:64, 103). The nonreligious 
lexical semantic fields, for their part, are discernable in the form of 
everyday words from the standard in addition to nonstandard slang 
expressions. The nonreligious lexical fields include food items, 
professions, sexuality and romance, drugs and alcohol, vulgarity, 
criminality, and many others.  
 
Rap Lyrics and Linguistics: How Arabic is used in German Rap 

Rap lyrics are not a spontaneous record of speech varieties 
but they provide a synchronic record of a representation of urban 
vernaculars. Members of the Arabic speaking second generation and 
Muslims familiar with the Arabic Islamic lexical field have established a 
significant position in the German rap market. Today rap music 
accounts for a startling share of European music sales. The large 
audience that rap albums reach must be impacted by the diffusion of 
novel lexical items from the urban vernaculars. 

For researchers living outside of the German-speaking parts of 
Europe, a valuable tool for gaining preliminary insights into the 
evolution of urban vernaculars over the last two and a half decades 
has been via recordings from the rap music genre. From the margins 
of European society, the offspring of immigrants – or immigrants 
themselves – have championed rap music. Although rap still has an 
underground element, the genre has become increasingly popular to 
the extent that rap albums routinely dominate album sales across 
genres in Germany.  
 In order to illustrate Arabic borrowings in German rap, I 
propose two approaches. First, the rap text below illustrates some of 
the ways that rappers make use of the Arabic Islamic lexical semantic 
field. Second, a selection of Arabic borrowings in their sentential 
context as found on a sampling of German rap albums that date from 
2008-2015 will provide a broad perspective.  

The song below is entitled Amin by PA Sports, featuring Alpa 
Gun, a bonus track on the album, H.A.Z.E. (2014). PA Sports, from an 

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Iranian family, and Alpa Gun, from a Turkish family, deliver a song that 
expresses an array of Islamic concepts using Arabic borrowings or 
German translations of Muslim concepts. This song stands out for its 
religiosity among the recordings of both these artists who typically do 
not dwell so deeply on the theme of religion: 
 

1. Hand aufs Herz, Du musst die Augen öffnen,  
Honestly, you need to open your eyes,  

2. doch Menschen glauben nur das an was Sie glauben 
möchten.  
yet people only believe in what they would like to believe. 

3. Halt Dich an Allah und an Seinem Seil fest,  
Hold tight onto Allah and his rope, 

4. was für eine Dünya dieses Leben ist nur ein Test.  
as for this dunya, this life is but a test. 

5. Ich sage audhu billah und nehm mein Abdest.  
I say audhubillah  and do my ritual washing. 

6. Ja Allah halt mich gegenüber Sünden standfest.  
Ya Allah, keep me strong against sin. 

7. Ich bin kein Heuchler und will mich nicht begründen  
I am no hypocrite and I don’t want to explain 

8. weil ich auch nur ein Mensch bin wie du, ich bin nicht 
sündenfrei.  
because I’m just human like you, I am not without sin. 

9. Halt dir vor Augen, eines Tages wirst du begraben;  
Keep it in mind, one day you will be buried; 

10. was am Ende bleibt sind die schlechten und die guten Taten. 
what remains in the end are good and bad deeds. 

11. Ob Sunnite oder Shia wir sind eine Ummah, 
Whether Sunni or Shia, we are all one Ummah, 

12. und wer was Anderes sagt, Bruder, der hat keinen Schimmer. 
and who says something else, brother, hasn’t the faintest idea. 

13. Lass dich nicht vom Teufel und der Fitna leiten,  
Don’t let yourself be led by the devil and fitna,  

14. wir sind eins und das müssen wir unseren Kindern zeigen. 
we are one and we should show that to our children. 

15. Tagtäglich sterben Brüder in Palestine,  
Everyday brothers die in Palestine, 

16. doch ich sag jeden Tag ja Allah ja kerim.  
still I say everyday oh Allah, oh generous one. 

17. Es ist die Habgier und die Missgunst die Menschen zu Tieren 
macht,  
It is greed and distrust that turn people into animals, 
 
 
 

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18. mein Bruder, aber nicht uns, was auch passiert, lass nie die 
Hoffnung los,  
my brother, but not us, whatever happens, don’t let go of hope, 

19. behalte eins in deinem Kopf Bruder, Gott ist groß!  
keep this in your mind, brother, God is great! 

 
Refrain  

 
20. Ich bete nicht für Hölle oder Paradies,  

I don’t pray for Hell or Paradise, 
21. sondern weil Du würdig bist, darum fall’ ich auf die 

Knie. 
but because you are worthy, I fall to my knees. 

22. Wenn Du willst sind wir morgen schon tot. 
If you wish it, then by morning we are dead. 

23. Nur durch den Mensch kam der Zorn in dir hoch.  
It is because of man that your anger is so great. 

 
24. Ich bete nicht für Hölle oder Paradies,  

I don’t pray for Hell or Paradise, 
25. sondern weil du würdig bist, darum fall ich auf die 

Knie. 
but because you are holy, I fall to my knees. 

26. Ich glaub an Dich und warte auf den Tag der 
Abrechnung, 
I believe in You and I wait for the Day of Judgment, 

27. der Rest ist alles Ablenkung, amin!  
everything else is diversion, amen! 

 
28. Ja stimmt, die Drogen machen süchtig, es tut mir leid.  

I agree, the drugs produce addiction, I’m sorry to say. 
29. Bitte verzeih mir Herr, ich habe gesündigt. 

Please forgive me Lord, I have sinned. 
30. Ich habs bereut und darum geh ich jetzt den geraden Weg. 

I regret it and that’s why I’m now taking the straight path. 
31. 5 mal am Tag knie ich vor dir und mache meine Gebet.  

5 times per day I kneel before you and say my prayer. 
32. Ich bring die Schahada auch wenn die meisten es nicht so 

sehen:  
I also proclaim the Shahada when most wouldn’t say it: 

33. Es gibt keiner gott ausser Gott und Muhammed ist Sein 
Prophet.  
There is no god but God and Muhammad is His Prophet. 

34. Ich glaub daran und gehe jeden Freitag in die Moschee  
I believe in that and go to the mosque each Friday 
 
 

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35. und, Bruder, falls du es nicht tust dann ist das dein Problem. 
and, brother, if you do not do it, then that’s your problem. 

36. Die Säulen des Islams faszinieren mich. 
The pillars of Islam fascinate me. 

37. Viele sagen sie sind Muslime, doch praktizieren nicht; 
Many say they are Muslims, but don’t practice; 

38. sie kiffen, trinken Alkohol und machen draussen Fitna,  
they smoke hash, drink alcohol and create fitna, 

39. sie heucheln rum und benehmen sich wie ein haufen wixxer. 
they spread gossip and carry themselves like scum.  

40. Ich mach mein Ramadan und wenn ich kann geb ich mein 
Zekat,  
I do my Ramadan and when I can, I give my Zakat, 

41. falls ich es schaffe will ich irgendwann mal auch nach Mekka. 
if I can make it, I want to go to Mecca sometime. 

42. Glaub mir, der Mensch will nach einem gewissen Alter chill’n, 
Believe me, people want to chill out until a certain age,  

43. doch es gilt nicht das was wir wollen, sondern was Allah will. 
but it doesn’t matter what we want, but what Allah wants. 

44. Manchmal läuft in diesem Leben alles nicht rund,  
Many times in this life things don’t go well, 

45. doch fühl dich nicht alleine Djane. 
but don’t feel alone, Johnny. 

46. Gott ist mit uns, glaub mir, hab’ Vertrauen und lass nicht die 
Hoffnung los.  
God is with us, believe me, have confidence and don’t let go of 
hope. 

47. Vergiss eine Sache nie Bruder, Gott ist groß!  
Don’t forget one thing, brother, God is great!5  

 
There are 17 different Arabic words in this German rap text 

and they are all from the Islamic lexical field: Allah, Dünya, audhu 
billah, ya Allah, Sunnite, Shia, Ummah, Fitna, ya Allah ya kerim, amin, 
Schahada, Moschee, Muslime, Fitna, Ramadan, Zekat and Mekka. In 
general, even though many Arabic borrowings in rap texts come from 
the Islamic semantic field, there are also many non-religious 
borrowings. PA Sports’ song has a strong religious theme, thus the 
Islamic emphasis. Several of the items in the text above belong to a 
layer of Arabic borrowings that already has a longstanding presence in 
German such as Allah, Sunite, Shia, amin, Moschee, Muslime, 
Ramadan, and the toponym, Mekka. The other expressions, Dünya, 
audhu billah, Ummah, Fitna, ya Allah ya kerim, Schahada and Zekat, 
are not recognized by most Germans. These terms are well known, 

                                                        
5 German text transcribed by Ahmet Aktas and translated by Benjamin 
Hebblethwaite. 
 

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however, among German Muslims and Muslims worldwide. Dünya 
refers to this mundane world; audhu billah means ‘I seek refuge in 
Allah’; the expression ya Allah ya kerim with two instances of the 
vocative ya, ‘oh Allah, oh noble (one)’; Ummah ‘the global community 
of Muslims’; Fitna ‘strife’; Schahada ‘the testimony of faith’; and Zakat 
‘charitable giving.’ 

In addition to the layers of Arabic lexical borrowings, the song 
also expresses aspects of Islamic tradition in German translation. 
There are several examples that are worth noting. Line four includes 
the phrase, dieses Leben ist nur ein Test. The notion that life is God’s 
test of humankind’s righteousness or lack thereof is a fundamental 
outlook in Islam (Ünal 2013:464). In Islam, our lives are tests that 
culminate in ultimate accountability. This takes form in the concept of 
the “Day of Judgement” which appears in two parts of the song in 
German translation, in line 10 as, was am Ende bleibt sind die 
schlechten und die guten Taten, illustrating the belief that each human 
will be judged for his or her good and bad deeds, and in line 26 where 
the Day of Judgment is made explicit: ich glaub an Dich und warte auf 
den Tag der Abrechnung.  

The ideology of the family, reflected in a brotherhood and 
sisterhood relation among Muslims, is expressed in German with mein 
Bruder in line 18. Several Islamic notions appear in German translation 
including Gott (line 19), Hölle (line 20) and Paradies (line 20). The 
characteristic attention to death as a reminder for how to live morally is 
reflected in lines 22, wenn Du willst sind wir morgen schon tot. The 
notion of sin and repentance (tawba) are reflected in line 29, bitte 
verzeih mir Herr, ich habe gesündigt. Similarly, the Qur’anic notion of 
the siraat al-moustaqim (the straight path) is expressed in German in 
line 30: darum geh’ ich jetzt den geraden Weg. The Islamic tradition 
that requires Muslims pray five times a day is found in line 31: 5 mal 
am Tag knie ich vor Dir. In line 32 the Shahada ‘Testimony of faith’ is 
followed by the German translation of Islam’s fundamental statement 
of faith: es gibt kein Gott ausser Gott und Muhammed ist Sein Prophet 
(La ilaha illallah wa Muhammadur rasulullah).  

Finally, the Sunnah obligation of attending the Friday sermon 
and prayer at a mosque are drawn upon, ich glaub daran und gehe 
jeden Freitag in die Moschee (34). An  enthusiastic reference to the 
(five) pillars of Islam is made, die Säulen des Islams faszinieren mich 
(36), and two Qur’anic expressions in German translation serve as the 
song’s peroration, Gott ist mit uns (46) (from Allahu ma’na, see Qur’an 
9:36) and the song’s closing words, Gott ist groß! (47) (from the praise 
expression and exclamative, Allahu akbar). 

The text provided above illustrates the fusion of the Islamic 
tradition with the German rap music genre. Songs that delve so deeply 
into the Islamic lexical-semantic field are relatively uncommon. 
However, there are nevertheless handfuls of interesting Arabic 
borrowings on many German rap albums, especially ones released by 

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Arabic-heritage or Muslim rappers. There is also some borrowing of 
Arabic words among non-Arabic speaking and non-Muslim heritage 
rappers, but it occurs on a smaller scale. 

Below is a short selection of Arabic borrowings in their 
sentential context as found on a sampling of German rap albums. The 
religious lexical field, coded as (R), is common in German hip-hop 
lyrics. In addition, the presence of non-religious Arabic slang 
expressions (S) and everyday standard Arabic (E) is also significant:  
  
Abyat (m.) or baida (f.) ‘white, i.e. cocaine’   Sorry, Herr Kommissar, 
ich weiß es ist strafbar. Doch letzte Nacht war ich mit Marocs auf 
Baida. Schweißtest durchgefallen, Kokain im Blut. Sorry, officer, I know 
it is punishable. However, last night I was with my Moroccan friends on 
cocaine. I failed the drug swipe test, cocaine in my blood.6 (S) 
Ahlan wa sahlan ‘hello and welcome’   Aber du mein Freund wirst 
leider nie so wie ich, zu sensibel wie eine Klitoris. Ahlan wa-sahlan, 
heiß dich willkommen! But you my friend will unfortunately not become 
like me, as sensitive as a clitoris. Hello and welcome, bid you 
welcome.7 (E) 
Ajnabe (ajnabi) ‘foreigner’   Ich bin ein ajnabe. I am a foreigner.8 (E) 
Akhi ‘my brother’   Jeder schüttelt Hände für’s Business, Akhi, 
Achtung, Schlangen sind giftig. Everyone shakes hands for his 
business, my brother, watch out, snakes are poisonous.9 (S) 
Al Fatiha ‘the opening (Sura 1 of the Qur’an)’   Mama weint und ich 
bete das Al-Fātiḥa. Mama weeps and I pray Al-Fatiha.10 (R) 
Al-Ain ‘the evil eye’   Jeder dritte macht aib11, jeder zweite al-ain. One 
in three makes mistakes, one in two makes the evil eye.12 (E) 
Astaghfirullah (Estagfurullah) ‘I pray to God for forgiveness’   Gewalt 
und Konsum – Astaghfirullah! Vorbestraft und illegal – Astaghfirullah! 
Die Sünde schmeckt süß – Astaghfirullah! Ein Weltbild voll Hass – 
Ratatata! Violence and consumerism – I pray to God for forgiveness! 
Previous conviction and illegal - I pray to God for forgiveness! The sin 
tastes sweet - I pray to God for forgiveness! A world image filled with 
hate – Ratatat!13 (R) 
Dajjāl ‘Dajjaal, i.e. a satanic figure of Islamic eschatology’   Brüder 
ficken mit dem Dajjāl. Estagfurullah. Brother, fuck with the Deceiver. 
Forgive me God.14 (R) 
                                                        
6 Olexesh, Arschkontrolle (2015) 
7 Fard, Huckleberry Finnphase (2015). 
8 Hamad 45, Ajnabe (2014). 
9 Fard, Traumfängerphase (Mezzanin) (2015). 
10 Fard, Al-Fatiha (2015). 
11 The word aib is Turkish for "mistakes" (see the notes for Massiv, feat. Celo 
& Abdi, Intifada Ghettolied (2013) on www.genius.com). 
12 Massiv, feat. Celo & Abdi, Intifada Ghettolied (2013). 
13 Snaga & Fard, Astaghfirullah (2014). 
14 Haftbefehl, Engel im Herz, Teufel im Kopf (2014). 

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Dschinn ‘spirit [jinn]’   Meine Welt ist dunkel, sprech' mit Fäusten wie 
ein Pantomim. Mit dem Dschinn in der Hand (ah, ah), so wie Aladdin. 
My world is dark, speak with ghosts like a pantomime. With the jinn in 
my hand (ah, ah) just like Aladdin.15 (R) 
Flous ‘money’   Aber egal, mir geht es gut. Immer noch Probleme aber 
Hauptsache Flous. In any case, things are going well. Still there are 
problems as always, but there is money.16 (S) 
Habibi ‘beloved’   Habibi komm ich zeig’ dir was auf der Straße geht. 
Beloved, come I’ll show you what’s going on in the street.17 (E) 
Hadjibart ‘long beard worn by someone who completed the Hajj to 
Mecca’   Tragen ein Hadjibart. Wear a Hadj beard18 (R) 
Halal ‘halal, i.e. permissible in Sharia law’   Damals Schwarzgeld, 
illegal, Heute halal money legal. Previously ill-gotten money, illegality, 
today, halal money, legality.19 (R) 
Hamdulillah ‘thanks be to God’   Hamdulillah, mir geht es gut. Thanks 
be to God, all is well with me.20 (R) 
Harami ‘transgressor’   Slumdog Harami, Passport: Almani. Slumdog 
transgressor, passport: German21 (R) 
Iblis ‘Ibliss’ (one of the jinn in the Qur’an)   Sorry, das war nicht ich, 
sondern Iblis. Sorry, that wasn’t me but Ibliss.22 (R) 
Iftar ‘iftar, i.e. meal after sundown during Ramadan.’   Pismams sind 
hungrig wie auf Iftar, click bam. Cousins are hungry like at Iftar, click 
bam.23 (R) 
Inch’Allah ‘God willing’   Bald kommt dein Album, inshallah Altun.24 
Soon your album will drop, God willing gold.25 (R) 
Jumu’a ‘Friday’   Auf’m Weg zum Jumu’a Gebet. On the way to Friday 
prayers.26 
Kahba ‘whore, slut, ho’   Kahbas schrei’n, wenn wir vorbeifahr’n, sahbi. 
Whores scream when we drive by, brother. (S) 
Khoya ‘brother, dude, man’   Khoya, das hier ist mein Leben und 
vielleicht werd’ ich erwischt. Man, this is my life and maybe I’ll be 
caught.27 (S) 
Lak ‘dude, dawg’    Lak, der Marokkaner tickt Stoff. Dawg, the 
Moroccan deals in powder.28 (S) 

                                                        
15 Fard, Keine Harmonie (2015). 
16 Al-Gear, Aber egal (2014). 
17 Fard, Habibi Music (2008). 
18 Automatikk, feat. Kurdo, Ghettopräsident (2014). 
19 Kurdo, 7Halal (2015). 
20 Massiv, Ein Mann ein Wort 2 (2015). 
21 Hamad 45, Mantika (2014). 
22 Haftbefehl, Engel im Herz, Teufel im Kopf (2014). 
23 Kurdo, Meine Welt (2014). 
24 The word Altun comes from the Kurdish word for “gold.” 
25 Kurdo, Halbmond (2015). 
26 Massiv, feat. Celo & Abdi, Intifada Ghettolied (2013). 
27 Al-Gear, Multikriminell (2014). 

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Mantika ‘sphere’   In meiner Mantika. In my sphere.29 (E) 
Maskhara ‘filthy’   Deutscher Rap ist Maskhara. German rap is filthy.30 
(E) 
Mekka ‘Mecca’   Bete Richtung Mekka und sterbe als Moslem. Pray in 
the direction of Mecca and die as a Muslim.31 (R) 
Nargila ‘water pipe’   Lieben schnelle Autos, den Rauch von Nargila. 
Love fast cars, the smell of a water pipe.32 (E) 
Ro ‘bro’   Es bleibt wie es ist, ro, weiter Haram-Para. It stays what it is, 
bro, simply money gained from illicit means.33 (S) 
Sahbi ‘friend’   Meine Welt ist parallel, fick das Parlament, Euros und 
Karamell, Lambos und Panamera, Europa Alarme, Ghetto, ghetto 
sahbi “My world is parallel, fuck the parliament, Euros and caramel, 
Lambos and Panamera, Europe alarm, ghetto, ghetto, friend.34 (E) 
Seytan (Sheytaan) ‘Satan’   Generation Estagfurulla was sehe ich 
nur? Brüder dreh'n durch, wählen Seytan statt Religion. Der Teufel holt 
auch dich, bietet Geld und Ruhm. Generation forgive me is all I see? 
Brother get over it, they choose Satan over religion. The devil brings 
for you, offers money and fame.35 (R) 
Tijara ‘business, (illicit) trade’   Ich bin Star in Europa, du machst Tijara 
minimal. I’m a star in Europe, you make minimal business.36 (S) 
Wallah ‘I swear’   Wallah diese Tabakjoints kann ich ma garnet leiden. 
I swear I can’t stand these tobacco joints.37 (R) 
Ya latif ‘softy, a weak person’   Du willst Beef, ya Latif, komm hol mir 
deine Clique gleich mit. You want beef, oh softy, come get me with 
your whole clique.38 (E) 
Zamzam ‘Zamzam spring near Mecca, considered holy in Islam.’   Ich 
schlürf’ Wasser vom Zamzam-Brunnen, Du den Fotzenschleim von 
Gangbang-Nutten. I slurp water from the springs of Zamzam, you the 
pussy mucus from gangbanged whores.39 (R) 
 
 This short list of Arabic lexical borrowings found on German 
rap albums signals the use of several lexical fields. The most important 
is the religious (R) lexical field with 15/32 lexical items. Terms from 
every day (E) standard Arabic comprise 9/32 lexical items. Slang 
expressions (S) are also important with 8/32 items. The total number of 

                                                                                                                         
28 Massiv, feat. Celo & Abdi, Intifada Ghettolied (2013). 
29 Hamad 45, Mantika (2014). 
30 Chaker, Citycode (2014). 
31 Hamad 45, Ajnabe (2014). 
32 Kurdo, Gauads (2015). 
33 Celo & Abdi, Innenstadt Unzensiert (2011). 
34 Kurdo, Meine Welt (2015). 
35 Celo & Abdi, feat. Capo, Parallelen United Remix 2 (2012). 
36 Haftbefehl, Ich rolle mit meim Besten (2014). 
37 Celo, Para miet Amnezia (2011). 
38 Proph, P zum dem Roph (2015). 
39 Kurdo, 7Halal (2015). 

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lexical items in this short glossary is a mere 32 different Arabic words. 
Such a small corpus is far from representative; nevertheless, based on 
my study of German rap and as an approximate indicator, the 
borrowings do roughly reflect the major Arabic lexical fields present in 
German-language rap lyrics. 
 
Discussion on Arabic borrowings in German rap 
 This essay briefly introduces the topic of Arabic lexical 
borrowing as found in German rap lyrics. Arabic speakers and Muslims 
familiar with the Islamic lexical-semantic field have been settling in 
Germany in significant numbers since the end of World War II. In 2014 
and 2015, Germany absorbed close to one million Arabic speaking and 
Muslim refugees as a consequence of the massive wars that have 
engulfed Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya since the interventions 
and occupations of the United States and other western powers began 
in 2003. The settlement of Arabic speaking and Muslim refugees in 
Germany and Europe continues to have profound ripples throughout 
the region. There are serious tensions in Europe related to the violence 
those wars have generated globally and inside of Europe. 
Unfortunately, areas of creative contact between speakers of German 
and Arabic receive much less attention from the media and yet the 
language contact that is reflected on rap recordings suggests that a 
profound type of acculturation and cultural creativity is taking place: rap 
lyrics represent an intermediate space of linguistic and cultural 
exchange in Germany’s complex multicultural landscape. 
 Given the major increase in the number of Arabic speaking 
refugees and immigrants in Germany that began in 2014-2015, it is 
likely that Arabic influences on urban German vernaculars—and on rap 
lyrics—will continue and increase in the coming decades. In the lyrics 
of Arabic speaking or Muslim heritage rappers, the insertion of Arabic 
lexical items and expressions has been on the rise in German and 
French rap albums since Al-Qaida’s attacks on September 11, 2001, 
and the ensuing and all-consuming “global war on terror” initiated by 
President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, and 
ongoing under President Barack Obama. With the rise of Islamist 
extremist terrorism and the expansion of western military violence in 
the Middle East, Muslims in Europe are under intense pressure, 
scrutiny and suspicion.  

The arrival of the Arabic lexical field in urban European 
vernaculars and in the art forms they feed such as hip-hop reflects an 
assertiveness and defensiveness from members of the Muslim and 
Arabic-speaking communities. Rap music is rooted in African-American 
traditions of consciousness-raising and resistance. Therefore the 
repurposing of rap to respond to concerns and to reflect the culture of 
Arabic speakers and Muslims reflects a core discursive dimension of 
hip-hop culture. Arabic word borrowings in German hip-hop reflect the 
expression of ethnic and cultural identity. The rappers situate 

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 12 

themselves in the “social landscape through the stylistic practice” of 
word borrowing (Svendsen 2015:7).  
 I use hip-hop as a means of breaking into a representation of 
the urban German vernaculars. Living outside of Germany, hip-hop 
music and the Internet provide access to aspects of urban culture and 
language practices. The extensive corpus of German rap lyrics at 
www.genius.com, in addition to the website’s crowd-sourced 
annotations that are provided by native speakers of German, Arabic, 
Turkish, Kurdish and other languages, offer unprecedented insights 
into language contact in urban German varieties. Hip-hop lyrics and 
such websites represent important mechanisms for the diffusion of 
lexical borrowings.  

The German rap corpus that I examine stretches from 2008-
2015. In this period Arabic borrowings have become routine on the 
albums of Arabic heritage artists. This essay offers a short introduction 
to Arabic lexical and cultural influences in contemporary German urban 
culture. There are alarming tensions in Europe between Muslim 
fundamentalists and extremists, on the one hand, and far left 
secularists, far right political streams, and Christianists, on the other 
hand. Stresses are so polarizing that even Muslim and non-Muslim 
moderates become pitted against one another. In this setting, hip-hop 
stands out as a popular expressive cultural space where hybrid 
identities and ethnic differences are embraced and celebrated.40 Hip-
hop represents a successful multicultural, multi-faith, and multi-ethnic 
cultural movement that illustrates cooperative—rather than 
conflicting—creative human interaction in contemporary German 
society. For students of the urban German vernacular and culture, rap 
stands as an interesting resource. 
 
  

                                                        
40 Note that there are racists and right wing extremists who rap and release 
recordings in Germany, but this content tends to be quite rare and unpopular. 
For more information on Nazi rap in 2015 see: http://juice.de/rechtsaussen-
patriotismus-und-deutscher-nazi-rap/ 

124 Delos



 13 

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