Glamour - Scottish. The Scots were trying to say "Grammar" (but had too much haggis in their mouths) so it came out as "Glamour". ("Grammar", in the sense of learning, was tied to astrology and magic spells, which was connected to enchantment and casting a spell in a different way - usually with the eyes.) Note that "Glamour" is an exception to the usual American practice of changing "-our" to "-or". Even the magazine is Glamour.
Tycoon - Japanese. Although they borrowed it from the Chinese.
Kayak - Eskimo. Or Inuit, I should say. From their word "qajaq". They do have many words for snow.
Ombudsman - Swedish. From Old Norse umbodhsmadhr. The NPR Ombudsman has to put up with a lot of crap.
Bungalow - Hindi. Apparently, Bengalis built single-storey houses, and the Hindi word for one was bunglaa, meaning "of Bengal". Listen to the Bangladesh national anthem.
Pariah - Tamil. The Tamil word for drum is "parai", and a tribe of drummers called "paraiyan" were considered "untouchables". Just like drummers in our culture.
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