haremn.

Etymology: Partly (i) (in α. forms) < Persian ḥaram women's lodgings, wife, and its etymon Arabic ḥaram sacred possession, (hence) wife (who must not be seen or touched by men other than her husband), specific sense development of ḥaram haram n.¹, partly (ii) (in β. forms) < Ottoman Turkish ḥarem something holy, something to be protected, holy place, courtyard of a mosque, private portion of a big house, female members of the family who lived in that part of the house, daughter, wife (Turkish harem ; < Arabic ḥaram and (in senses relating to the house and family members) probably also < Persian ḥaram ), and partly (iii) (in β. forms) < Ottoman Turkish ḥarīm something holy or intimate, something to be defended, sanctuary, courtyard of a mosque, women's apartment in a house, female member of a family (Turkish harem ) and its etymon Arabic ḥarīm inviolable place, sanctuary, sacred precinct, wife, female members of a family collectively, women's and children's quarters in a household, all ultimately < Arabic ḥarima to be forbidden, to be unlawful (which is also the base of ḥaram haram n.¹). Compare earlier haram n.¹Parallels in other European languages. Compare French harem , †haram women's and children's quarters in a house (c1660), wives and concubines of a man collectively (1661; Middle French haram great sin (1559) shows an earlier borrowing of Arabic ḥaram haram n.¹), Spanish harem, (now usually) harén women's and children's quarters (both early 19th cent.; 1604 in an apparently isolated attestation as †haram), Italian harem women's and children's quarters (a1764; 16th cent. as †arin, †arino, †carame, †haram); also Dutch harem wives and concubines of a man collectively (1758; 1726 as hharaam), women's and children's quarters (1790), German Harem women's and children's quarters (1727 as †Haram), wives and concubines of a man collectively (1776; 1673 as †haram in a Persian setting in sense ‘woman’, with an etymologizing explanation that a woman is so called because she is the greatest temptation to males), Swedish harem women's and children's quarters (1658 as †haram), wives and concubines of a man collectively (1713). Pronunciation history. The pronunciation of this word shows considerable diachronic variation. N.E.D. (1898) records the pronunciations (hē^ə·rĕm) /ˈhɛərəm/ and (for the variant form harim) (harī·m) /hɑːˈriːm/, while D. Jones Eng. Pronouncing Dict. (ed. 1, 1922) has only /ˈhɛərem/; ed. 12 (1963) of Jones still gives the latter as the preferred pronunciation, but additionally gives /ˈhɛərəm/, /həˈriːm/, /hɑːˈriːm/, and /ˈhɑːriːm/. By the late 20th cent., /ˈhɑːriːm/ appears to have become the pronunciation favoured by British pronouncing dictionaries, e.g. Wells (1990) and Jones (ed. 15, 1997), although the other variants were still in use, and the position of the stress continued to vary.