dervish

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈdɜː(ɹ)vɪʃ/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Turkish derviş,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Persian درویش (darvīsh, “poor man, beggar”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} It was first spelled dervis; the spelling dervish dates from the mid-19th century.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Muslim friar who has taken vows of poverty and austerity (1585).^[7][2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

A dervish is the Muslim equivalent of a monk or friar, a religious mendicant,^[2][4] and the Arabic equivalent is faqir.^[4] Some orders are known for ecstatic devotions such as whirling or howling,^[2][7][6] which gave rise to the phrases whirling dervish and howling dervish^[2] and to the extended sense of a person full of frenzied energy.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1585 – dervis, a Muslim religious mendicant.^[7][3][2][5]
• 1847 – the spelling dervish.^[3]
• 1850 – dervishism.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A member of any of various Muslim ascetic orders, such as the Sufis, some known for ecstatic whirling dances and chanting.
2. Someone with abundant, often frenzied energy, or who whirls as if in a trance.

Related words

• fakir

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press