Giaours

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A term originally used to describe a non-Muslim or infidel, often in a pejorative context; historically used to refer specifically to Christians in the Eastern Mediterranean; signifies an outsider or someone considered uncivilized by certain cultural standards
2. An expression denoting a non-believer in Islamic contexts, typically used with disdain; it has been used to identify Christians during the Ottoman Empire; often indicates a person viewed as lacking in moral or religious values
3. A label applied to infidels, particularly in relation to Islamic viewpoints, with negative connotations; it has been utilized in literature to depict non-Muslim characters; can suggest someone who does not adhere to accepted religious practices or beliefs

Etymology: The plural "giaours" follows the English habit of adding -s to a noun borrowed from French, which had itself taken the word from Ottoman Turkish. The singular "giaour" is the form to trace, so the plural simply carries the same history with it. That history runs through Persia. In Classical Persian, "gāwur" was a variant of "gabr", meaning "infidel", and the word was used of followers of the Zoroastrian faith that Muslim conquerors encountered in Persia. The Ottoman Turks took the term as "gâvur", and it was used for non-Muslims within the Ottoman world, above all Christians. French then borrowed it, and English took it from French. Because the Persian source is also the root of "gheber" and "gueber", these two English words are doublets of "giaour": forms of one ancient term that reached English by different routes and took on different shades of meaning.