dervish
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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
- A member of any of various Muslim ascetic orders, such as the Sufis, some known for ecstatic whirling dances and chanting.
- Someone with abundant, often frenzied energy, or who whirls as if in a trance.
Related words
- fakir
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
- ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
- ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press