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qubba

Subject: History, Early history (500 CE to 1500)

Arabic word for dome. In commemorative architecture, qubba often refers to a domed mausoleum that usually contains the grave of a saint, a pious man, or an emir. In the ...

Arabic words

Arabic words   Quick reference

Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins (3 ed.)

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2021
Subject:
Language reference, History of English
Length:
566 words

...trying to transmute base metal into gold gets, gets alcohol [M16th] from al-kuḥl originally referring to kohl [L18th], which comes from the same root, and alkali [LME] from al-qali ‘soda, potash’. On the domestic front we get alcove [M16th] from al-qubba from al ‘the’ and qubba ‘dome, rounded vault’, minaret [L17th] ultimately from Arabic manāra ‘lighthouse, minaret’, carafe [L18th] from gharafa ‘to draw water’, and mattress [ME] from maṭraḥ ‘place where something is thrown’, hence ‘carpet, cushion, bed’. The latter might be...

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