Ishmaelites

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Plural term for the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar, regarded as ancestors of various Arab peoples
2. The people traced back to Ishmael, Abraham's firstborn son, in biblical and Islamic tradition
3. Groups claiming descent from Ishmael, the elder son of Abraham, who in the Old Testament were associated with the desert regions east and south of Canaan

Etymology: "Ishmaelites" is the plural of "Ishmaelite," a descendant of Ishmael, the son of Abraham in the Hebrew Bible. The name Ishmael itself is Hebrew, meaning roughly "God hears," and in the biblical narrative Ishmaelites are the people descended from him, traditionally linked with the Arabian peninsula. The ending is the more interesting part. The suffix "-ite" travelled from Ancient Greek, where "-ītēs" marked a person connected with a place or group, through Latin "-ītes" and then French "-ite" before reaching English. So "Ishmaelite" is simply "Ishmael" with a suffix that English borrowed in the same way it borrowed names like "Israelite." The suffix was used in English to form words for people who belonged to a named group, and "Ishmaelite" follows that pattern directly.