The Lingua Franca in The Levant _{Turkish Nautical Terms of Italian and Greek Origin}

Since it is only recently that the Moslems have conquered the Land of the Rhomaioi and begun to sail the seas, most of the terms and names given to things pertaining to ships and to the sea are some Spanish, some Italian, and some Greek; they have taken them over at their pleasure.

Hadji Khalifa (1609-1657)