The Word "Mosque"
David / Amicus
comes from the Spanish word for mosquito and comes from a saying of some
Spanish Christian ruler during the "Reconquest" that he would swat away
Muslim houses of worship like so many mosquitos. Does anyone take
offense at the word? Thanks!
Imran Razi
<Ami...@webtv.net> wrote:
> Is the word mosque an insensitive word to use?
Yes, although I thought it was of French origin. Regardless, there is
no good reason for Muslims to use a colonialist term instead of the
perfectly good Arabic term "masjid". Using the term "mosque" expresses
our sense of inferiority, and all Muslims and others should stop using
it. Thanks for bringing this up.
salaam,
Imran Razi
Abdelkarim Benoit Evans
The English word "mosque" is borrowed from the French "mosquée" which
comes from the Old Italian "moschea" which comes from the Old Spanish
"mezquita" which comes from the ARABIC "masjid" (place of prostration)
which comes from "sajada" which means to prostrate oneself by kneeling
and touching the forehead to the ground. The addition of the prefix ma-
in Arabic often changes a verb to a noun refering to the place where an
action occurs.
For example, "maktab" (ma + kataba, to write), a writing place--desk or
office.
The Spanish word "mosquito" (small flying insect) is the diminuitive of
the Spanish word "mosca", which means fly.
There is absolutely no etymological connection between "mezquita"
(mosque) and "mosquito".
In the Qur'an, God says:
innamaa ya3muru masaajida allaahi man aamana bi-llaahi
Truly Allah's mosques (Arabic "masaajida", Spanish "mezquitas") shall be
maintained by those who believe in Allah.
The Spanish word would probably have been "mezjita" (Arabic "masjid")
but there is to Spanish equivalent for the Arabic letter "jim", so "qu"
was used instead.
--
Peace to all who seek God's face.
Abdelkarim Benoit Evans
gksh...@ucdavis.edu
Well, for what it's worth, the word in Spanish is "mezquita", and
the etymology I've seen is that it comes from the N. African
pronunciation "masgid" of the standard Arabic "masjid". It sounds
like this is an anglophoneic urban legend to me, although of course
there is some similarity between mezquita and various Spanish words
like mosca & mosquito so maybe someone made a bad "play on words".
It should be remembered that at the time of the reconquista, Arabic
would have been widely spoken and understood throughout Spain, a
fact that makes the kind of false etymology you suggest very
unlikely.
Greg Shenaut
Steadfast
usually words traveling from one generation to another and from one location
to another and from one language to another get completely distorted into a completely different word
e.g.
Ibn Rushd
Ibn Sina
Salah el-Deen
just try to figure out the above words in English
what was the origin of Alchemy or Logarithms and hundreds of other words
and if you check the star names in heaves since many of them originate from Arabic
many times I can hardly recognize the original name
similarly Mosque is derived from Masjid
"David / Amicus" <Ami...@webtv.net> wrote in message news:a584ms$fs5$1...@samba.rahul.net...
M.S.M. Saifullah
The Arab grammarians classify masjid as "ism makan", i.e., "name of
location"; it indicates the place where an action takes place. Masjid
being derived from the root sa-ja-da (to prostrate), it means "place of
prostration". Since a place of worship is a place where believers
prostrate to God, "masjid" is a general term to designate any place of
worship without any religious distinction. Later, this word was used to
designate Islamic places of worship in particular, i.e., the mosques.
Masjid refers to a place of prostration without any religious distinction;
an excellent example of the usage of the word "masjid" referring to a
non-Islamic sanctuary can be seen in the verse 17:7. The verse describes
briefly the destruction of the masjid in Jerusalem (i.e., the Temple) by
the enemies of Children of Israel. Allah says in the Qur'an that the
destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem was a punishment was inflicted upon
the Children of Israel for their tyranny and arrogance.
As for the Spanish word for mosque, if I remember correctly, it is
"mesquita" as I happen to see one of them in Toledo and Barcelona. Has it
got anything to do with mosquito? It will be interesting to know.
Wassalam
Saifullah
Yusuf B Gursey
: Is the word mosque an insensitive word to use? I understand that it
: comes from the Spanish word for mosquito and comes from a saying of some
I have never heard of the etymology you suggest. oxford english
dictionary, normaly an authority on matters of english etymology, does
not suggest anything different other than the conventional one, namely
that it comes from masjid through arabic dialects that have [g] for jim,
i.e. masgid (with g hard). what you refer to might well have been said,
as an ill-intentioned pun.
as for insensitiveness, no, since what you say is not widely known anyway.
however, at least in the US, I notice an increasing tendency to use
"masjid" rather than "mosque" in deference to the usage of most muslims.
: Spanish Christian ruler during the "Reconquest" that he would swat away
elmer swanson
> > Is the word mosque an insensitive word to use? I understand that it
> > comes from the Spanish word for mosquito
Random House dictionary says it was borrowed from the French "mosquee,"
which was borrowed from Italian "moschea,"
which comes from the original masjid.
I think Sicily had a big Muslim influence for many years (centuries even).
So apparently the Spanish weren't involved.
ilyas G
> peace
> usually words traveling from one generation to another and from one location
> to another and from one language to another get completely distorted into a completely different word
> e.g.
>
> Ibn Rushd
> Ibn Sina
> Salah el-Deen
I know that the occidental name of those people are
Ibn sina => avicenne
Salah A-deen => saladin
What's Ibn Ruchd ???
Steadfast
the word is **Averroes ** it is amazing how words get transformed from one culture to another
enjoy it
http://www.ummah.net/history/scholars/RUSHD.html
"ilyas G" <il...@no-spam.guennoun.org> wrote in message news:a5faep$sr4$1...@samba.rahul.net...
vmi...@yahoo.com
ilyas G <il...@no-spam.guennoun.org> wrote:
> What's Ibn Ruchd ???
Averroes.
--
-------------------- http://NewsReader.Com/ --------------------
Usenet Newsgroup Service
David / Amicus
now in using it; I just did not want to offend. I had gotten my info on
the origin of the word out of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to
Understanding Islam".
Abdelkarim Benoit Evans
Ami...@webtv.net (David / Amicus) wrote:
Yes, indeed: on page 14. How unfortunate! I have just begun reading the
book and have noticed one or two other errors but nothing of this
magnitude. I will contact the author and I urge all others to read this
widely publicized book and to also send their comments to the author (in
care of the publisher).
Imran Razi
> now in using it; I just did not want to offend.
Again, a lot of Muslims do find the word offensive. You would be much
better off saying "masjid" or "masjid or mosque".
Salaam,
Imran Razi
Deshi Miah
mosque in english...
In article <a584ms$fs5$1...@samba.rahul.net>,
Ami...@webtv.net (David / Amicus) wrote:
pjr...@attglobal.net
Last 25 Feb 2002 21:10:13 GMT "M.S.M. Saifullah" <ms...@eng.cam.ac.uk>
quoted and said:
>On 23 Feb 2002, David / Amicus wrote:
>
>> Is the word mosque an insensitive word to use? I understand that it
>> comes from the Spanish word for mosquito and comes from a saying of some
>> Spanish Christian ruler during the "Reconquest" that he would swat away
>> Muslim houses of worship like so many mosquitos. Does anyone take
>> offense at the word? Thanks!
Well, I never heard something like that in my life here in Spain, but the
Spanish word 'mezquita' could be a corruption from the Arabic 'masjid'
(masjiz --> meskhit --> mezquita)
On the other hand, it also sounds like a diminutive expression for Mecca as
'Little Mecca' in Spanish resulting as 'mezquita' from 'Mequita'
Is just a personal idea, not even a scholar finding from any reliable
source within any serious research or whatever.
(...)
>As for the Spanish word for mosque, if I remember correctly, it is
>"mesquita" as I happen to see one of them in Toledo and Barcelona.
One of the greatest mosque in the world is in Europe, in Córdoba,
Al-Andalus (or Andalusia, Southern of what today is Spain) in the former
capital city's Caliphate, during early Medieval times when Northern and
Central European barbarians were just polishing off the culture and
technologies here made by the Roman Empire. It is just History.
>Has it
>got anything to do with mosquito? It will be interesting to know.
In my opinion, not at all.
Peace!
Pedro Bilal Ruiz
Madrid (Magerit).
España (Al-Andalus)
http://www.geocities.com/pedro_jose_ruiz
http://es.clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/islamenmadrid