Middle East - Anthony Ham [567]
felafel – deep-fried balls of chickpea paste with spices served in a piece of flat bread with tomatoes or pickled vegetables; ta’amiyya in Egypt
felucca – traditional wooden sailboat used on the Nile in Egypt
fuul – paste made from fava beans
gebel (E) – see jebel
gület (T) – traditional wooden yacht
hajj – annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca; one of the five pillars of Islam
hamam (T) – see hammam
Hamas – militant Islamic organisation that aims to create an Islamic state in the pre-1948 territory of Palestine; the word is an acronym (in Arabic) for Islamic Resistance Movement
hammam (Ar) – bathhouse; hamam in Turkish
han – see khan
haram – anything that is forbidden by Islamic law; also refers to the prayer hall of a mosque
hared – (plural haredim) member of an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect; also hasid (plural hasidim)
hasid –see hared
Hejira – Mohammed’s flight from Mecca to Medina in AD 622; the starting point of the Muslim era and the start of the Islamic calendar
Hezbollah – ‘Party of God’; Lebanon-based organ of militant Shiite Muslims
hypostyle hall – hall in which the roof is supported by columns
imam – prayer leader or Muslim cleric
intifada – Palestinian uprising against Israeli authorities in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem; literally ‘shaking off’
iwan – vaulted hall, opening into a central court in a madrassa or a mosque
jamaa – see masjid
jebel (Ar) – hill, mountain; gebel in Egypt
jihad – literally ‘striving in the way of the faith’;
holy war
kale(si) (T) – fortress
keffiyeh (Ar) – chequered scarf worn by Arabs
khan – travellers’ inn, usually constructed on main trade routes, with accommodation on the 1st floor and stables and storage on the ground floor; also caravanserai, han, wikala in Egypt
kibbutz – (plural kibbutzim) Jewish communal settlement run cooperatively by its members
kilim – woven rug
kippa – skullcap
Knesset – Israeli parliament
konak (T) – mansion
Koran –see Quran
kosher – food prepared according to Jewish dietary law
köy(ü) (T) – village
Likud – Israeli right-wing political party
liman(ı) (T) – harbour
lokanta (T) – restaurant
madrassa – Muslim theological seminary; modern Arabic word for school; medrese(si) in Turkey
mahalle(si) (T) – neighbourhood, district of a city
Mamluk – slave-soldier dynasty that ruled out of Egypt from AD 1250–1517
masjid (Ar) – mosque; also jamaa
mastaba – Arabic word for ‘bench’; mud-brick structure above tombs from which the pyramids were developed
medina – city or town, especially the old quarter of a city
medrese(si) (T)–see madrassa
Mesopotamia – ancient name for Iraq from the Greek meaning ‘between two rivers’
meydan(ı) – see midan
meyhane (T) – (plural meyhaneler) tavern
meze (T) – see mezze
mezze – a collection of appetisers or small plates of food; meze in Turkish
midan (Ar) – town or city square; meydan(ı) in Turkish (plural meydanlar)
midrahov (Heb) – pedestrian mall
mihrab – niche in a mosque indicating direction of Mecca
minbar – pulpit used for sermons in a mosque
mitzvah (Heb) – adherence to Jewish commandments
moshav (Heb) – cooperative settlement, with private and collective housing and industry
muezzin – cantor who sings the call to prayer
mullah – Muslim scholar, teacher or religious leader
nargileh (Ar) – water pipe used to smoke tobacco; sheesha in Egypt
norias – water wheels
obelisk – monolithic stone pillar with square sides tapering to a pyramidal top; used as a monument in ancient Egypt
otogar (T) – bus station
oud – pear-shaped, stringed instrument; the forerunner of the Western lute
pansiyon – pension, B&B or guesthouse
pasha – Ottoman governor appointed by the sultan in Constantinople
Peshmerga – Kurdish soldiers, literally ‘those who face death’
PKK – Kurdistan Workers Party
PLO – Palestine Liberation Organisation
PTT (T) – Posta, Telefon, Telğraf; post, telephone and telegraph office
pylon – monumental gateway at the entrance to a temple
qahwa (Ar) – coffee, coffeehouse; ahwa in Egypt