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Origin and history of Arab

Arab(n.)

"one of the native people of Arabia and surrounding regions," late 14c. (Arabes, a plural form), from Old French Arabi, from Latin Arabs (accusative Arabem), from Greek Araps (genitive Arabos), from Arabic 'arab, indigenous name of the people, perhaps literally "inhabitant of the desert" and related to Hebrew arabha "desert."

The meaning "homeless little wanderer, child of the street" is from 1848 (Arab of the city, but the usual form was city arab), an allusion to the nomadic ways of the Bedouin. The Arab League was formed in Cairo, March 22, 1945.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to Arab

arabesque(n.)

1786, "Moorish or Arabic ornamental design," from French arabesque (16c.), from Italian arabesco, from Arabo "Arab" (see Arab), with reference to Moorish architecture. In reference to an ornamented theme or passage in piano music it is attested by 1853, originally the title given in 1839 by Robert Schumann to one of his piano pieces ("Arabeske in C major"). As a ballet pose, attested by 1830.

The name arabesque applied to the flowing ornament of Moorish invention is exactly suited to express those graceful lines which are their counterpart in the art of dancing. ["A Manual of the Theory and Practice of Classical Theatrical Dancing," 1922]
Arabia

1711; see Arab + -ia. The older name for "the country of Arabia" was Araby (late 13c.).

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Trends of Arab

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

Bedouin
"an Arab of the desert, one of the tribes of nomadic Arabs," c. 1400, from Old French bedüin (12c., Modern French bédouin...
morris-dance
persons in costume, mid-15c., moreys daunce "Moorish dance," from Flemish mooriske dans, from Old French morois "Moorish, Arab...
Almagest
("Mathematical Composition"), commonly called Megale syntaxis "Great Composition" (Greek megale is the fem. of megas); Arab...
borage
Latin word was held by folk-etymology to be from Arabic abu arak, literally "the father of sweat," supposedly so called by Arab...
sheik
also sheikh, "head of an Arab family," also "head of a Muslim religious order," and later also a general title of respect...
Ariel
(Gesenius would here translate "fire-hearth of God," after Arab. arr; elsewhere in O.T. the same word occurs as a man's name...
insoluble
There might be matters that presented serious difficulties, but if you could lay them before the right man -- some Arab in...
mount
c. 1300, mounten, "to get up on a horse;" mid-14c., "to rise up, rise in amount, ascend; fly," from Old French monter "to go up, ascend, climb, mount," from Vulgar Latin *montare, from Latin mons (genitive montis) "mountain" (from PIE root *men- (2) "to project"). The transitive
Semite
1847, "a Jew, Arab, Assyrian, or Aramaean" (an apparently isolated use from 1797 refers to the Semitic language group), back-formation from Semitic or else from French Sémite (1845), from Modern Latin Semita, from Late Latin Sem, Greek Sēm "Shem," one of the three sons of Noah (G
Saracen
Middle English Saracene, Sarcene, Sarazyn, Sarasine, "a Turk; an Arab; a Muslim," from Old English (in translations from Latin), from Old French Saracin, Sarrasine or Medieval Latin Saracenus, from Greek sarakenos. This usually is said to be from Arabic sharquiyin, accusative plu

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