ghaffirn.
A native Egyptian policeman; a guardian, watchman.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > law enforcement > police force or the police > [noun] > policeman > in specific country
quarterman1573
lascarine1598
peon1609
sbirro1670
exempt1678
kavass1819
ghaffir1831
Texas Ranger1846
carabiniere1847
zaptieh1869
Zarp1895
flic1899
kiap1923
Schupo1923
guard1925
provincial1936
Garda1943
Vopo1954
the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > watching or keeping guard > [noun] > one who watches or keeps guard > municipal watchman > in India, Egypt, or Spain
talliar1680
chowkidar1696
ghaffir1831
sereno1897
1831 J. L. Burckhardt & W. Ouseley Notes on Bedouins & Wahábys (new ed.) I. 366 The Arab guardian was called ghafeyr.
1855 R. F. Burton Personal Narr. Pilgrimage to El-Medinah I. 231 Without guns or gunners, it [sc. the fort] is occupied by about a dozen Fellahs, who act as hereditary ‘ghafirs’, (guardians).
1883 D. M. Wallace Egypt 216 At the bottom of the communal organisation stand the Gaffirs or village watchmen.
1923 Glasgow Herald 19 Feb. 9 The whole distance was guarded..by ‘ghaffirs’, or watchman.
1928 Blackwood's Mag. Feb. 248/1 A canal watchman, known as a Ghaffir.
1938 W. B. Ziff Rape of Palestine 421 Even the Jewish Ghaffirs and supernumerary constables were usually armed with truncheons only.
1971 G. Household Doom's Caravan iv. 169 The naval stores were..guarded by Arab ghaffirs.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online December 2018).
<
n.1831