1.The part of a Muslim's household where his wives or concubines live; harem. 2. The palace of a Turkish sultan.
From Italian serraglio: enclosure, padlock, also from Latin serare to lock, from Latin sera a lock or bolt.
seraglio
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seraglio
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- Grand Panjandrum
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Re: seraglio
From Italian serraglio: enclosure, padlock, also from Latin serare to lock, from Latin sera a lock or bolt.
Above all In Italian it means: "a fenced group of wild animals". And "barricade"; or "buildings of the sultan's residence": we can find this last meaning by the Vanvitelli's huge construction in Neapel: it's called "L'Albergo dei Poveri": also pejoratively known as "Serraglio".
I see now that the first and the last meanings maybe have a different etymology: 1. (a fenced group...) [Dal provenz. serralh, che è dal lat. tardo serracülum, der. di serare 'chiudere']. 2. (building...) [Dal turco saray].
Ciao!
Rimboccamaniche e scioglilinguagnolo
Re: seraglio
Or, to be more exact still, from Persian سراء sarâ' and/or سراى sarâ'e, the former meaning palace, mansion, the latter being given as2. (building...) [Dal turco saray].
(etc.)A house, palace, grand edifice, king's court, seraglio, an inn
In Arabic, it's سراى sarây; Wehr: "palace", no more, no less; in Urdu سراء sarâ'/ سرائ sarâ'i "An inn, a caravan serai, a temporary lodging for travellers". Hindi uses सराय sarây "1. House, abode; 2. temporary lodging-place, inn, 3. fig. the world.
Irren ist männlich
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- Grand Panjandrum
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I'll have to install a few fonts in my system, because anders's comments are full of question marks.
Miku, I was using the etymology provided by Webster's. Would it be possible that the meaning of the word in Italian has been changing with time?
Miku, I was using the etymology provided by Webster's. Would it be possible that the meaning of the word in Italian has been changing with time?
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." -- Mark Twain
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