This study deals with Arabisms in German. It systematically recreates the path of borrowing via various intermediary languages (medieval Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch) and charts the onomasiological and semasiological changes which the lexical units have undergone in the process. The study is based on some 200 words, 100 of which are described in extensive dictionary articles, while the rest are treated lexicologically within the framework of the argument.