caliphate

Etymology

It is formed from English caliph + -ate;^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the OED (revised 2023) suggests that the choice of suffix was perhaps prompted by the likeness of Arabic خلافة (ḵilāfa), and compares Middle French califat (1560) and Medieval Latin chalifatus (13th century).^[2] Klein likewise calls it a hybrid of caliph and the Latin suffix, not a transliteration of the Arabic word.^[5] Merriam-Webster instead derives it from French califat, from Medieval Latin caliphatus.^[7] Caliph is from Middle French caliphe, also calife, and Medieval Latin calipha, from Arabic خليفة (ḵalīfa, “successor”), the title taken by Abu Bakr after the death of Muhammad, from خلف (ḵalafa, “to succeed, follow”).^[2][3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The office or dignity of caliph: 1613, in Samuel Purchas's Pilgrimage.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1614,^[7] and Etymonline to the 1610s, in the sense "dominion of a caliph".^[3]

Semantic evolution

The OED and the other dictionaries order the senses differently.^[2][3][4] In the OED the office comes first (1613), then the reign or term of a caliph (1672) and the territory he rules (1759, in a translation of Voltaire).^[2] Etymonline puts the dominion first (1610s) and the rank in 1753,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford dates the country to the early 17th century and the reign and rank to the mid 18th.^[4] Other spellings are califate and khalifate.^[4][8]

Timeline

• 1613 – the office or dignity of caliph.^[2]
• 1672 – the reign or term of office of a caliph.^[2]
• 1759 – the territory ruled by a caliph.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The office or rank of a caliph.^[8][7][2]
2. The reign or term of office of a caliph.^[8][7][2]
3. The territory or community under a caliph's rule: the Abbasid caliphate.^[7][2][4]

Related words

• caliph

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins