English Words from Arabic
xebec
الشَّبّاك
shabbāk
A fast, slender ship with triangular sails that sailed the Mediterranean from the sixteenth century, and the ship of the corsairs of North Africa. Its Arabic name, shabbāk, went into Spanish as xabeque, Italian sciabecco and French chébec, and English took it as xebec.
- Meaning in Arabic
- a small boat
The path between languagesshabbāk → xabeque, sciabecco, chébec → xebec
Vilhelm Melbye, 1873, ملكٌ عامّ
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Sources
- Merriam-Webster: xebec, from Arabic shabbāk
- Online Etymology Dictionary: xebec
- جون هوث، «الفنّ الضائع»، الترجمة العربيّة ص ٢١٨: «استخدم القراصنة من البربر سفنًا سريعة دُعيت القرصانية (xebecs)»
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