- Arab (n.)
- late 14c. (Arabiens), from O.Fr. Arabe, from L. Arabs (acc. Arabem), from Gk. Araps (gen. Arabos), from Arabic 'arab, indigenous name of the people, perhaps lit. "inhabitant of the desert" (rel. to Heb. arabha "desert"). Meaning "homeless little wanderer, child of the street" is from 1848, in ref. to nomadic ways. Arab League formed in Cairo, March 22, 1945.
- Arabian
- late 14c. (n.); c.1600 (adj.), from Arab (q.v.). As a prized type of horse, it is attested from 1660s. The Arabian bird was the phoenix.
- arabesque
- 1610s, "Moorish or Arabic ornamental design," from Fr. arabesque, from It. arabesco, from Arabo "Arab," with reference to Moorish architecture. As a ballet pose, first attested 1830. Musical sense, in ref. to an ornamented theme, is from 1864, originally the title given by Robert Schumann to one of his piano pieces.
- Arabic (adj.)
- c.1500, from O.Fr. Arabic (13c.), from L. Arabicus "Arabic" (see Arab). Originally in ref. to gum arabic. Arabic numerals (actually Indian) first attested 1727; they were introduced in Europe by Gerbert of Aurillac (later Pope Sylvester II) after a visit to Islamic Spain in 967-970. A prominent man of science, he taught in the diocesan school at Reims, but the numbers made little headway against conservative opposition in the Church until after the Crusades. The earliest depiction of them in Eng., in "The Crafte of Nombrynge" (c.1350) correctly identifies them as "teen figurys of Inde."
- truce
- early 13c., triws, variant of trewes, originally plural of trewe "faith, assurance of faith, covenant, treaty," from O.E. treow "faith, treaty," from P.Gmc. *trewwo (cf. O.Fris. triuwe, M.Du. trouwe, Du. trouw, O.H.G. triuwa, Ger. treue, Goth. triggwa "faith, faithfulness"). Related to O.E. treowe "faithful" (see true). The Germanic word was borrowed into L.L. as tregua, hence Fr. trčve, It. tregua. Trucial States, the pre-1971 name of the United Arab Emirates, is attested from 1891, in ref. to the 1835 maritime truce between Britain and the Arab sheiks of Oman.
- souk
- Arab bazaar, 1826, from Arabic suq "marketplace."
- oud
- "lute or mandolin of Arab lands," 1738, from Arabic 'ud, lit. "wood."
- dhow
- 1799, original language unknown, "single-masted native vessel used on Arabian Sea," later widely applied to all Arab vessels. The word may have originated near Oman or Hormuz.
- Averroes
- Latinization of name of Ibn Rushd (1126-1198) Arab philosopher and physician of Spain and Morocco.
- Baath
- pan-Arab socialist party, founded by intellectuals in Syria in 1943, from Arabic ba't "resurrection, renaissance."
- casbah
- from Fr. casbah, from N.African Arab dialect kasba "fortress."
- sheik
- "head of an Arab family," also "head of a Muslim religious order," 1577, from Arabic shaykh "chief," lit. "old man," from base of shakha "to grow old." Popularized by "The Sheik," novel in Arabian setting by E.M. Hull (1919), and movie version "The Sheikh," 1921, starring Rudolph Valentino, which gave it a 1920s sense of "strong, romantic lover."
- hakeem
- 1585, physician in Arab countries, from Arabic hakim "wise," from stem of hakuma "he was wise;" whence also hakam "judge," hikmah "wisdom, science."
- borage
- flowering plant used in salads, mid-13c., from Anglo-Norm., from O.Fr. borage (13c., Mod.Fr. bourrache), from M.L. borrago. Klein says this is ultimately from Arabic abu drak, lit. "the father of sweat," so called by Arab physicians for its effect on humans. But OED says it's from L. borra "rough hair, short wool," in reference to the texture of the foliage.
- ariel
- 1382, in the Wyclif Bible, a word taken untranslated from the Vulgate, from Gk. ariel (Sept.), from Heb. ariel; in later Bibles, translated as "altar."
"(Gesenius would here translate 'fire-hearth of God,' after Arab. arr; elsewhere in O.T. the same word occurs as a man's name, and appellation of Jerusalem, where it is taken as = 'lion of God.') Ariel in T. Heywood and Milton is the name of an angel, in Shakespeare of 'an Ayrie spirit'; in Astron. of one of the satellites of Uranus." [OED]
- Semite
- 1847, "Jew, Arab, Assyrian, Aramęan," from Mod.L. Semita, from L.L. Sem "Shem," one of the three sons of Noah (Gen. x:21-30), regarded as the ancestor of the Semites (in the days when anthropology was still bound by the Bible), from Heb. Shem. Semitic (1813 of languages, 1826 of persons) is probably from Ger. semitisch (first used by Ger. historian August Schlözer, 1781), denoting the language group that includes Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Assyrian, etc. In recent use often with the specific sense "Jewish," but not historically so limited.
- insoluble
- 1382, "unable to be loosened," from L. insolubilis "that cannot be loosened," from in- "not" + solubilis (see soluble). Fig, use, of problems, etc., is from 1393.
"It was a tacit conviction of the learned during the Middle Ages that no such thing as an insoluble question existed. There might be matters that presented serious difficulties, but if you could lay them before the right man -- some Arab in Spain, for instance, omniscient by reason of studies into the details of which it was better not to inquire -- he would give you a conclusive answer. The real trouble was only to find your man." [Gertrude Bell, "The Desert and the Sown," 1907]
- almagest
- late 14c., treatise on astronomy by Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria, extended in M.E. to other works on astrology or astronomy, from O.Fr. almageste, from Arabic al majisti, from al "the" + Gk. megiste "the greatest (composition)," from fem. of megistos, superl. of megas "great" (see mickle). Originally titled in Gk. Megale syntaxis tes astronomios "Great Work on Astronomy;" Arab translators in their admiration altered this.
- Saracen
- O.E., "an Arab" (in Gk. and Roman translations), also, mid-13c., generally, "non-Christian, heathen, pagan," from O.Fr. saracin, from L.L. saracenus, from Gk. sarakenos, usually said to be from Arabic Sharquiyin, accusative plural of sharqiy "eastern," from sharq "east, sunrise," but this is not certain. In Medieval times the name was associated with that of Biblical Sarah (q.v.).
"Peple žat cleped hem self Saracenys, as žogh žey were i-come of Sarra" [John of Trevisa, transl. Higdon's Polychronicon, 1387]
The name Greeks and Romans gave to the nomads of the Syrian and Arabian deserts. Specific sense of "Middle Eastern Muslim" is from the Crusades. - orange
- c.1300, from O.Fr. orenge (12c.), from M.L. pomum de orenge, from It. arancia, originally narancia (Venetian naranza), alt. of Arabic naranj, from Pers. narang, from Skt. naranga-s "orange tree," of uncertain origin. Loss of initial n- probably due to confusion with definite article (e.g. une narange, una narancia), but perhaps infl. by Fr. or "gold." The tree's original range probably was northern India. The Persian orange, grown widely in southern Europe after its introduction in Italy 11c., was bitter; sweet oranges were brought to Europe 15c. from India by Portuguese traders and quickly displaced the bitter variety, but only Mod.Gk. still seems to distinguish the bitter (nerantzi) from the sweet (portokali "Portuguese") orange. Portuguese, Spanish, Arab, and Dutch sailors planted citrus trees along trade routes to prevent scurvy. On his second voyage in 1493, Christopher Columbus brought the seeds of oranges, lemons and citrons to Haiti and the Caribbean. Introduced in Florida (along with lemons) in 1513 by Sp. explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. Introduced to Hawaii 1792. Not used as the name of a color until 1542.