Muslim

Etymology

It is borrowed from Arabic مُسْلِم (muslim, “one who submits”),^[2][3][1][4] the active participle^[5][6][7] of أَسْلَمَ (aslama, “to submit oneself to the will of God”),^[5][8][1] whose noun of action is إسْلام (islām, “submission”), the source of Islam.^[5][1] Klein explains the verb as a causative form of a verb meaning "to be safe",^[9] and the OED says that this underlying verb, "to be or become safe, secure or free", is also the ultimate source of salaam.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A follower of Islam: about 1615 according to Barnhart and Merriam-Webster,^[3][10][8] and in the 1610s according to Etymonline.^[2] The OED's first quotation is of 1626, from Samuel Purchas's Pilgrimage.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word has named a follower of Islam since its first English records, and Barnhart and Klein gloss it literally as one who professes submission, or has submitted himself to God.^[10][9] Etymonline and Barnhart date the adjective to 1777,^[2][10] and the Shorter Oxford to the late 18th century,^[11] but the OED has it from the same 1626 work as the noun.^[5] From 1938 the word was also used of a Black Muslim.^[5] The Shorter Oxford records the adjective in the name of the Muslim League, a political organization founded in India in 1906.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1615 – a follower of Islam.^[3][8] The OED's first quotation is of 1626.^[5]
• 1626 – adjective, of Islam or its followers, in Purchas.^[5] Etymonline dates the adjective to 1777.^[2]
• 1938 – a Black Muslim.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who follows the religion of Islam: Her neighbours are devout Muslims.^[4][8][5]
2. A member of the Black Muslims.^[8][5]

Adjective

1. Of or relating to Islam, its followers, its institutions or its culture: a Muslim family.^[4][8][5]

Word family

• non-Muslim
• pre-Muslim
• pro-Muslim
• pseudo-Muslim
• Black Muslim
• Muslimism

Related words

• Islam
• salaam
• Moslem
• Mussulman

Usage notes

The OED notes that the form Muslim is now generally preferred to Moslem, as being closer to the Arabic,^[5] and Collins labels Moslem old-fashioned.^[4] The plural is Muslims or, as Merriam-Webster and the Shorter Oxford also allow, Muslim; the Shorter Oxford calls the unchanged plural chiefly collective.^[8][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press