Hora, Mamaglia (1857)

[A. Maberry]

On Tue, 30 Apr 2002 Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>
> ---------------------------------------------
> ROUMANIA:
> THE BORDER LAND OF THE CHRISTIAN AND THE TURK
> by  James O. Noyes
> New York: Rudd & Carleton
> 1858
> (The copyright is 1857--ed.)

> Pg. 293:  The Arabs call these social reunions _Musameril_, discourses by
> moonlight or by the glimmer of the stars.
> (OED?--ed.)

mas[macron]amir (only pl.) "evening or nightly entertainments
(conversations, also games, vocal recitals, storytelling, etc.)"
mus[macron]amarah "nightly or evening chat, conversation, talk chat"
Wehr. Dict. of modern written Arabic 4th ed.

I don't know what the -il is unless it is some form of the Rumanian
definite article, maybe? It definitely isn't part of the Arabic word.

allen
maberry at u.washington.edu