Agal

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A style of looped cord that serves to fasten a headdress securely on the head
2. A traditional accessory made of braided material used to hold a scarf or head covering in position
3. A cord usually shaped in loops worn to keep fabric headwear in place on the head

Etymology: The Arabic "ʕiqāl" (عِقَال) is the name for the black double cord that holds the headcloth, the ghutra, in place on a man's head across much of the Arabian Peninsula. The word comes from a root meaning "to tie" or "to hobble," and the same root gave the Arabic word for the rope used to fetter a camel's leg. In that older sense, the cord was literally a hobble, a tether that kept an animal from wandering. English took the word directly from Arabic, so it reached the language through travel, trade and colonial-era contact with the Gulf rather than through Latin or French. The headdress it secures is itself a regional garment, and the cord is the piece that turns a loose square of cloth into a stable covering in desert wind.