Etymology: Partly < (i) Italian †azagaia (1550 in the passage translated in quot. 1600, or earlier; the usual Italian word is zagaglia zagaie n.), and partly (in later use) < (ii) Dutch assegaai, (now rare) assagaai (1600 as †hassegay; also first half of the 17th cent. as †assegay, †assagaie, †assagay; > Afrikaans assegaai); the Italian and Dutch words were borrowed, via Spanish azagaya (end of the 13th cent.) and Portuguese azagaia (14th cent. as †azagaya , 15th cent. as †azaguaya ), ultimately < Arabic al-zaġāya < al the + zaġāya kind of spear ( < Berber zaγāya ). Compare earlier zagaie n. and archegay n., and also the second element of lancegay n., which ultimately reflect borrowings of the same Arabic word.Compare Middle French, French †azagaie (1546), French †assegaye (1605), †azagaye (1611 in Cotgrave), †hasseguaie (1690; < Spanish), German †Hassagaye (1719 in the passage translated in quot. 1731, or earlier; now Assegai). The Arabic word was apparently first encountered by western Europeans in a North African setting, and was first borrowed into Spanish, and thence into Portuguese, Italian, and French. From the 16th century, Portuguese authors applied azagaia to spears used by sub-Saharan African peoples.

Etymology: < assegai n.