16th century, from Portuguese banana, from a Niger-Congo language of West Africa. A further origin from Arabic بَنان (banān, “fingertips”) has been considered, but there is no particular reason to believe the similarity to be anything but coincidental. (The use of بنان for “banana” in Maghrebi Arabic dialects is borrowed from European languages.) The German form in -e is attested from the 19th century, though it may be somewhat older in speech.