Kismet
early 19th century: from Turkish, from Arabic qisma ‘division, portion, lot’, from qasama ‘to divide’.
wiktionary
From Ottoman Turkish قسمت (kısmet, “fate, destiny”) (Turkish kısmet), from Arabic قِسْمَة (qisma, “division, lot, destiny”).
etymonline
kismet (n.)
"fate, destiny," 1834, from Turkish qismet, from Arabic qismah, qismat "portion, lot, fate," from root of qasama "he divided."
From a nation of enthusiasts and conquerors, the Osmanlis became a nation of sleepers and smokers. They came into Europe with the sword in one hand and the Koran in the other: were they driven out of their encampment, it would be with the Koran in one hand and the pipe in the other, crying: 'Kismet! Kismet! Allah kehrim!' (God hath willed it! God is great!) [Dr. James O. Noyes, "The Ottoman Empire," "The Knickerbocker," October 1858]
Popularized as the title of a novel in 1877.
