释义 |
Bedouin, n. (and a.) (ˈbɛduːiːn, now usu. -ɪn) Forms: 4 pl. bedoynes, 7 pl. baduini, sing. bedwin, 8 bedonian, bedouia, bedoween, 8– bedouin (9 beduin). Also β. 9 sing. bedawy, -awee, pl. bedawin, -een. [a. F. bedouin, 12th c. OF. li bedowin (pl.), 13th c. beduins, beduyn (sing.), a. Arab. badāwīn, or badawīn, pl. of badāwīy or badawīy a dweller in the desert, f. badw desert. First known to Europeans in Crusading times. The plural, being of most frequent use, was adapted in med.L. as beduīni, bedewīni, It. beduini, baduini, whence a sing. L. beduīnus, It. beduino, F. beduin, etc., with the Arab. pl. ending -īn retained: cf. assassin, also cherubin, seraphin, rabbin. In English apparently forgotten after Crusading times till the 17th c. The mod. spelling is French: travellers acquainted with Arabic often substitute the forms in β.] An Arab of the desert.
c1400Mandeville v. 35, I duelled with him as soudyour in his werres..aȝen the Bedoynes. 1603R. Johnson Kingd. & Commonw. 171 Parte of the Arabians..live in the fields and mountaines, and are termed Baduini. 1635E. Pagitt Christianogr. i. ii. (1636) 71 A few Christians remaining, called Bedwins. 1767Russel in Phil. Trans. LVIII. 144 The Bedouins at this place. 1788Gibbon Decl. & F. (1802) IX. 223 The same life is uniformly pursued by..the modern Bedoweens. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. II. 609 The Bedonians, or wandering Arabs. 1847Kinglake Eöthen 180, I was now amongst the true Bedouins. β1865Fam. Treas. Sund. Read. vii. 442 The tent of the modern Bedawy. 1870R. Anderson Missions Amer. Bd. III. iii. 45 The wild Bedawin..were worse than the Greeks. b. transf. One who leads a Bedouin-like life elsewhere; a gipsy. (Cf. City Arab.)
1863Times 2 May, Where were all the dingy bedouins of England who travel through to this great gathering? 2. attrib. or as adj.
1844Mem. Babylonian P'cess. 82, I had seen several Bedouin girls. 1861Sala Tw. round Clock 45 Half-starved Bedouin children, mostly Irish. |