Mahumet

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The founder of Islam, the seventh-century prophet revered by Muslims as God's messenger ; an archaic term for an idol or false god in medieval Christian writing
2. The seventh-century Arabian prophet regarded by Muslims as the final messenger of God ; a dated word for a heathen idol or false deity used in older texts
3. The prophet who founded the religion of Islam in Arabia ; in older English writing, a false god or image worshipped as an idol

Etymology: In medieval English, "Mahumet" was the common name for the Prophet Muhammad, and it was often used as a term of abuse for Islam itself. The name is a transliteration of Arabic "muḥammad", meaning "praised" or "commendable", the passive participle of "ḥammada", "to praise". The same root gives "Mahmud", a related but separate personal name. The English form is a doublet of two other words that came from the same source. "Mahound", a demon or devil in medieval romances, shows how the name was twisted into an insult. "Mammet", meaning an idol or puppet, shows the same pattern: Christian writers turned the name of the Prophet into a word for a false god, and the sense of a figure to be worshipped without reason later became the puppet or doll.

Synonyms: mahomet, mahound