barmecide n., an insincere benefactor; one who holds out illusory offers, or who promised , but does not deliver.
the original Barmecide is to be found in one of the tales of the arabian nights, and his name has become synonymous with deceit, illusion, hypocricy, and at the proffering of bounty, only to with hold the bounty until the proffer's terms are met.
who knew there was this wonderful word to define so foul a character? I mean, i usually use the analogy of the school yard bully, who happens to own a baseball, and hold the whole team hostage to playing by his rules, or he takes away his ball..
we have all come across such characters, the kind who spoil things for everyone, unless they have everything their own way, and who offerings of help and kindness, are so insincere as to be transparent.
well, in the Arabian nights, he got his come uppance! the Caliph had him and his family imprisoned and exectuted them.
Here is a URL to text of Arabian Nights tales, including the one about the Barmecide:
http://arab2.com/arabian-nights/an24.htm
barmecide n., : a murder committed in a barroom.
A word I learned early from these stories was "sesame". "Open, sesame!" the magic words that opened the door to the treasure. I still remember that phrase every time I eat a roll with sesame seeds.
In anatomy, there are very small bones that form where tendons cross joints, as in the fingers, to keep joint in alignment when flexed. They are called sesamoids, because they are so small. The kneecaps are large ones.
wwh,
So now we can think Open, sesamoid! when we see something covered with sesame seeds!
Bent knee regards,
WW
In reply to:
barmecide n., : a murder committed in a barroom.
Or maybe the murder of the barmaid?
Parmecide the killing of certain cheeses.
And who among us would not like to own a magic lamp that when rubbed emitted a genie, who would give us whatever we asked for?
And who among us would not like to own a Magic Carpet?
and would we know what to ask for? about 5 years ago, there was a horror flick about a genie-- who gave everyone what they asked for... sort of. like the Saki story about the monkeys paw, having our wished granted is not always the best thing. at what price?
the genies of the arabic stories where not benign fairy godmothers.. they were evil spirits.. who harm humans.
And I wonder how many children have had nightmares about the roc, a bird of prey so huge it could fly off with a large animal.
Barmecides: a very interesting word, helen, that I recently had occasion to research.
The Barmecides were apparently a group of people (I'm unsure whether it was an ethnic group or a social caste), and the phrase "barmecide feast" comes from the tale in the arabian nights, to which dr. bill provided a link. In that tale a rich barmecide purported to serve a sumptuous meal to a beggar. He set a fine table and talked volubly of the wonderful food and wine the two of them were eating and drinking together -- all of which was illusory, for in fact the plates and glasses were completely empty.
I discovered this phrase years ago in reading the play
Lysistrata, and specifically the scene in which a young wife teases her husband with unfulfilled promises of assignation.
How's that for delicate phraseology? 
In my translation, the gentlemen comments, "A veritable feast of Bamedcides," and the footnote solemnly informs the reader that such was "a feast at which no food is served." Other translators more pithily render the husband's remark as, "The only thing getting laid here is the table."
For years, until I recently looked it up, I'd assumed that the term in my
Lysistrata translation referred to a feast-custom among the ancient greeks at the time of that play.
EDIT: You can find further information in the links noted in the post at
http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=61061
An aside: that young wife in Lysistrata is named "Myrrhine", and according to one source found by google, her name is a take-off of the ancient greek word for vagina.
Here is a link from a college site that confirms AR's statements:
http://www.humanitiesinthebeginning.org/Hum211/greece12.htm
Here is a list of words of Arabic origin. Let's see if you can add any.
admiral, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, algebra, algorithm,
alkali, almanac, amalgam, aniline, apricot, arsenal,
arsenic, artichoke, assassin, aubergine, azure, borax,
cable, calibre, camphor, candy, cannabis, carafe, carat,
caraway, checkmate, cipher, coffee, cotton, crimson,
crocus, cumin, damask, elixir, gauze, gazelle, ghoul,
giraffe, guitar, gypsum, hashish, hazard, jar, jasmine,
lacquer, lemon, lilac, lime, lute, magazine, marzipan,
massage, mattress, muslin, myrrh, nadir, orange, safari,
saffron, samizdat, sash, sequin, serif, sesame, shackle,
sherbet, shrub, sofa, spinach, sugar, sultana, syrup, talc,
tamarind, tambourine, tariff, tarragon, zenith, zero
To add to wwh's list:
How 'bout ottoman?
Mark Twain (our dear Sam Clemens) had the most amazing ottoman in his front hall. I saw it on a tour in Hartford where one of his houses was right across the lawn from Harriet Beecher Stowe's. Twain's ottoman looked like a big stuffed artichoke.
Barmecides regards,
WW
Alcohol's all well and goood, but how about the
elixir of love?
And didn't we once discuss "a norange", coming from an Arabic form I now fergit?
There must be loads more, from the centuries when Arabic scholars led the world in the sciences and mathematics and astronomy...
And there was an interesting (if not *entirely convincing) article in TVR a while back - lemme see if I can find it....
http://www.vocabula.com/VRJUNE01salloum.htmedit: oopsie, sorry Bill - somehow I missed your listing of elixir on first reading! ok, I have just seen this (which being a googlehound you have probably already seen, but!)...
http://users.erols.com/zenithco/Introl2.html
Dear mav: those were a couple super extra good links. It will take me quite a while to digest the long one.
Seems to me I read somewhere that there is a tribe of cannibals who consider sesamoids treats. Actually, I didn't read that anywhere, but it always sounds a little bit better than, "I just made that up."
Ted, I think I read about that same group of cannibals. I read they also relish naviculars dipped into a concoction like chocolate sauce many from cahla-cahla beans.
I also made this up.
Ulna a few of them were within a close radius, and many of them were in an ill humerus.
i encountered one in Tiscali that I don't remember seeing in previous lists:
"Effendi" a title of respect, used like our "sir".
From Uncle Bill's list: samizdat
I thought this one was Russian-- didn't Rudy Chelminski use it as a WAD a while back?
Are you sure it was same as dat?
It *is Russian. The sam- means self and the -izdat is from some other word I don't remember what, but it's some Russian compound initialism or something like that.
Samizdat, a phenomenon which began after Khrushchev's secret speech at the Twentieth Communist
Party Congress in 1956, meant the private reproduction of books, documents, letters, essays, literary
works, translations, reprints from formerly published and until recent times forbidden publications, by
means of typing and retyping them for dissemination by private citizens. These publications were thus
completely free of censorship.
Another word from Arabic: so long
Oh, OK, it's a phrase.
Dear Faldage: I think "Soo Long" was a variety of Chinese tea.
Soo Long
Got you a speck on yo eyegoggles there Dr. Bill?
Dear Faldage: I think "Soo Long" was a variety of Chinese tea.
A dimly remembered lyric, which I can't find on google. Can anyone help? Titled "Teapot's a-Whistlin', Darling", I think.
Oolong, souchong -- so long!
You take a lump or too?
Catnip; sassafras; acapulco peppermint;
Let me tell it to you:
Teapot's a-whistling, darling,
But I'm feeling blue.
You went and got my steam up,
And now I'm sitting on the fire for you.
A word often encountered in literature: "hadji" honorific title of Moslem who has made pilgrimage to Mecca. Most meritous if performed three steps forward, one step back.
...most meritous if performed three steps forward, one step bac
Did I miss something, Bill? What's being performed? Is this a dance about going to Mecca or something?
Head spinning,
Wordwhirled
Dear WW: As incontestible proof of their piety, the most devout pilgrims would (I have read) take three steps forward, one step back, and repeat until they got to Mecca. Extra virgins in Heaven perhaps.
Another one from tiscali: Hakeem, a Muslim physician.
3 steps forward; 1 step backwards
Amazing, wwh! Another instance of the literal making the figurative ludicrous.
Dear WW: You mock Muslim piety at your peril. You might have a "fatwa" declared against you.
From tiscali again: Halvah. a delicious mid-Eastern confection.
Same source. "Havildar" and Indian sergeant in British army in India. I had trouble getting confirmation that it is of Arabic origin. A source that appeared to confirm it gave 404.Ir remember seeing the word in one of Kiplings stories.
Or not.
The way I heard it the clear account of how it could have made its way into English was that English soldiers picked it up from Malaysian salang which was from Arabic salaam. My understanding of the use of salaam is that it is used both as a greeting and as a farewell. Any or all of the above could be wrong, but that's the way I heard it.
How did we miss "houri" : the ultimate Arabian beautiful young woman dwelling in Paradise?
What a pity "salaam" and "shalom" are not exchanged more often.
I thought "nargile" = waterpipe might be Arabic, but it is Persian.
Dear Max: a greater pity that that lady had suffered so much from that cultural conflict. I exchanged many PMs with her, and admire her, though recognizing that the board was not a suitable place for venting her feelings.
one person was deeply offended by my closing a post with "salaam alaikum" [and] express[ed] her contempt for the language
De mortuis nil nisi bonum, perhaps, max? All I see at in the discussion is light-hearted banter, but even if your recall is correct, I'd think de mortuis would apply.
Dear God, AR: are you telling me Shoshannah is dead? I got e-mail from her only a short time ago. What happened?
I speak figuratively, dr. bill, in the sense that she's dead to this board. But I imagine you knew that
mid-thread would hardly be the place for a literal obituary, and that I am here making a foolishly-literal response to a comment you meant as wordplay.
Dear AR: I am relieved. As I said, I very much liked and admired Shoshannah.
Another list of words borrowed from Arabic. Hard to tell how many duplicates. Here is ;URL to this site, which gives many countries from which words have been borrowed. Well worth browsing:
http://www.krysstal.com/borrow.htmladmiral, albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove (recess for a bed), alfalfa, algebra (reunion of broken
parts), algorithm, alkali, amber, amulet, aniline, antimony, arsenal, artichoke, assassin, average
(equitable distribution of losses due to damaged goods), ayatollah, azimuth, benzene (from Java -
from a resin in an Asian tree) calibre (mould for casting metal), carat (weight of four grains), caraway,
cipher, coffee, cork (bark), cotton, drub (beat), elixir, fakir, fellah (peasant), fez (named after its city
of origin in Morocco), gala, garbage, garble, gazelle, genie, giraffe, goul (the same root as Algol),
hashish, harem, hazard, henna, kismet (fate), lackey (footman), lime, loofah, lute, magazine,
marzipan, mask (buffoon), mattress, minaret, mohair, monkey, monsoon (season), mosque, myrrh,
nadir, pancreas, racket (for ball games - palm of hand), ream (bundle), safari, Sahara (desert),
saffron, sahib (friend), satin (named after its city of origin in China), sequin (coin), sheikh (old man),
sherbet, sheriff (noble), sofa, soda (headache - from plant used as a remedy), sultan, syrup (drink),
tabby (from a district in Baghdad where striped cloth was made), talisman, tamarind (Indian date),
tariff, wadi (dry river), yashmak (veil), zenith (pass over the head), zero, zircon
Bill:
I hate it when this happens. Along comes a list like this, and one, just one, of the words shouldn't be included, and it makes me question everything in the list. Sheriff in the sense of a county officer is not from Arabic, according to my dictionary. So I looked at some of the other words.
Carat is also suspect, since it came to us through Arabic from Greek. It is akin to keratin, believe it or not.
My dictionary does not substantiate either garbage or garble as being derived from Arabic. I also looked in OED. Nothing there about Arabic either.
TEd
Dear TEd: Thanks for your bits of research. I think that is one of the most important contributions to the board, to point out errors in a scholarly way.
I just thought of "catafalque", the structure supporting coffin at funeral. i thought it might be arabic, but it is not.