Sinbad

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A legendary seafarer from the Arabian Nights who makes seven voyages full of marvels ; the stage name of an American comedian and actor known for television and film work
2. The fictional adventurer of the Thousand and One Nights who sails on many perilous journeys ; a performer under a single-name stage identity, an American comedian and actor
3. A mythical mariner whose seven fantastic voyages appear in a famous Arabic story collection ; a comic entertainer and film actor who uses a one-word professional name

Etymology: Sinbad is the name of the sailor in "One Thousand and One Nights," and its roots run back to a Persian-speaking world long before the tales reached English. The Arabic form "sindibād" was borrowed from Middle Persian, where a parallel form survives as "sendbâd." Some scholars trace the Persian name further, to Sanskrit "siddhapatha," meaning "path of the Blessed," though the link is possible rather than proven. A popular folk explanation splits the name into Persian "send" and "bâd," meaning "wind" and "bad," or something similar, which makes a neat story but does not match the word's actual history. The name has been reshaped by many languages over the centuries, and the Arabic form also gave rise to a variant, "hindibād," showing how readily the name shifted in speech.