etymology
I can not edit the main page, so i will put it here so that some admin can insert it in the article. Eliphant is derived from sanskrit word hanti(s) meaning elephant (literally meaning having large hands). The Arabs took this word and put El (the) before it and it passed into Italian as elephanti and from there on made its way into other European languages.  

Do you just know this or do you have references to support it? References would be better.