amiral

from the Arabic أميرالبحر ʾāmyr āl-baḥr (prince of the sea) (composed of أمير, ʾāmyr ("commander, prince") and البحر, āl-baḥr ("the sea")). It seems that it was the Sicilians, at the crossroads of the Muslim and Christian worlds, who shortened the appellation to admiral. The word first appeared in French in 1249. http://www.medi1.com/webradio/mots_fr.php