Etymograph

English

majhul

Majhul comes from Arabic مَجْهُول ‘unknown’, and goes back to جَهِلَ ‘to be ignorant, to not know’.

  1. Arabicc. 500–presentجَهِلَjahila‘to be ignorant, to not know’
  2. Arabic, derivedc. 500–presentمَجْهُولmajhūl‘unknown’
  3. Classical Persianc. 900–presentsame formmajhūl
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1844majhul

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Arabicc. 500–presentجَهِلَjahila‘to be ignorant, to not know’
  2. Arabic, derivedc. 500–presentمَجْهُولmajhūl‘unknown’
  3. Classical Persianc. 900–presentsame formmajhūl
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1844majhul

Earliest quotation: 1844, Duncan Forbes, Allen & Madden: “Thirdly, to distinguish between the majhūl and ma'rūf sounds…”

The story

Borrowed from Classical Persian مَجْهُول (majhūl), from Arabic مَجْهُول (majhūl, “unknown”).

Every English word from Arabic جَهِلَ

Today it means

noun A class of vowel used in various Arabic script languages, including Persian, Kurdish, and Urdu, among others: A vowel phoneme that does not have a phonemic equivalent in Classical Arabic.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Arabic جَهِلَ / majhul

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