“A page from Elia Levita’s 16th century Yiddish-Hebrew-Latin-German dictionary contains a list of nations, including the word “כושי” Cushite or Cushi, translated to Latin as “Aethiops” and into German as “Mor”. [Translated into Modern English as Moor]. The Egyptian priest Manetho (c. 300 BC) listed Egypt’s Kushite (25th) dynasty, calling it the “Aethiopian dynasty”.”
“Moreover, when the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek (c. 200 BC), the Hebrew appellation “Kush, Kushite” became in Greek “Aethiopia, Aethiopians”, appearing as “Ethiopia, Ethiopians” in the English King James Version. Several notable personalities in Greek and medieval literature were identified as Aethiopian, including several rulers, male and female: Memnon and his brother Emathion, King of Arabia.”
“Elias Levita, was a Jewish author of several excellent treatises, deserves the first rank out of all the learned Jews that flourished in Rome. Some make him a native of Padua, and say that his relations were settled at Rome, particularly Abraham Aschenazi, chief of that family, and one of the judges of the synagogue; not considering that the word Aschenazi is the appellative which all the German Jews take, from Ashkenaz, the son of Gomer, whom they suppose to have peopled Germany. See The Ancient History of the Jews, and of the Minor Nations of Antiquity, Etc By Jews.”
“English is a West Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian dialects and was brought to Britain by Germanic invaders (or settlers) from what is now called northwest Germany and the Netherlands. A large portion of the modern English vocabulary comes from the Anglo-Norman languages.”
“English frequently makes use of loanwords originating from other languages. For centuries following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Norman kings and high-ranking nobles in England and to some extent elsewhere in the British Isles spoke Anglo-Norman, a variety of Old Norman, originating from a northern langue d’oïl dialect.”
Check out TRACING THE NORMAN RULERS OF SICILY and THE OLDEST ENGLISH DICTIONARY: A dictionary of the English language : in which the words are deduced from: their originals, explained in their different meanings and authorized by the names of the writers in whose works they are found by Johnson, Samuel, 1709-1784
“Merchants and lower-ranked nobles were often bilingual in Anglo-Norman and English, whilst English continued to be the language of the common people. The legendary religious zeal of the Normans was exercised in religious wars long before the First Crusade carved out a Norman principality in Antioch.”
“They were major foreign participants in the Reconquista in Iberia. In 1018, Roger de Tosny traveled to the Iberian Peninsula to carve out a state for himself from Moorish lands but failed. In 1064, during the War of Barbastro, William of Montreuil led the papal army and took a huge booty.”
“The government of Norman Africa was modeled carefully on the precedents offered by the pre-Norman emirs. As in Sicily, close attention was paid to the interests of the Muslim population, while the Christians benefit from the exemption from the poll-tax… Apart from the garrisons in the African towns, and apart from the use of Norman-style cavalry charges, evidence for the presence of ‘Norman’ or ‘Frankish’ characteristics cannot be found. The architects of the African empire were not ‘Normans’ but Greek and Arabic courtiers. See Abulafia, “The Norman Kingdom of Africa”,”
“The Hebrew word cushi, plural cushim today is considered a pejorative term for dark-skinned people of African origin and hence is not generally used. In the Bible, however, and in works of the Sages this term did not have negative connotations. Quite the contrary, its meaning was often positive. For example, in Sifre Numbers, par. 99, we read: “Because of the Cushite woman – Scripture is telling us that whoever saw her would have to admit that she was well-built.” Also compare Arukh ha-Shalem under cush (2), who writes that cushi in Persian means good-looking.”
Source: Bar-Ilan University’s Parashat Hashavua Study Center Parashat Noah 5769/ November 1, 2008
The Dictionary of the English Language was the first full featured English dictionary. Samuel Johnson published the authoritative work in 1755.
“Moor” may be found in this Dictionary. Click Here to See the entries as they appear in the first full feat…
Notice the English Dictionary traces “Moor” back to “Maurus” which is Latin. The term “Aethiope” is also “Latin” and appears as a bridge in the transliteration from the “Hebrew” term “Cush” to the German “Mor”. However when you look up “Maurus” your informed that it is from Ancient Greek μαυρός (maurós, “dark”) Maurus m (feminine Maura, neuter Maurum); first/second declension of or pertaining to the “Moors”. Moorish, Mauritanian. (poetic) African. Maurum accusative singular of Maurus. Maurus m (genitive Maurī); second declension “A Moor”.
Aethiopia (Greek Αἰθιοπία) first appears as a geographical term in classical sources in reference to the Upper Nile region, as well as all certain areas south of the Sahara desert and south of the Atlantic Ocean. Its earliest mention is in the works of Homer: twice in the Iliad, and three times in the Odyssey.
“The Greek historian Herodotus specifically uses it to refer to such parts of Sub-Saharan Africa as were then known within the inhabitable world. In classical antiquity, Africa (or Libya) referred to what is now known as Northwest Africa (Maghreb) and south of theLibyan desert and Western Sahara, including all desert land west of the southern Nile river.”
“Geographical knowledge of the continent gradually grew, with the 1st century AD Greek travelogue the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describing areas as far south as Zimbabwe. Αἰθίοψ (Aithiops), meaning “burnt-face”, was used as a vague term for dark-skinned populations since the time of Homer. It was applied to such dark-skinned populations as came within the range of observation of the ancient geographers i.e. primarily in what was then Nubia, and with the expansion of geographical knowledge, successively extended to certain other areas below the Sahara.”
Similarly, in the 15th century Ge’ez Book of Aksum, the name is ascribed to a legendary individual called Ityopp’is, an extrabiblical son of Cush, son of Ham, said to have founded the city of Axum. In addition to this Cushite figure, two of the earliest Semitic kings are also said to have borne the name Ityopp’is according to traditional Ethiopian king lists. At least as early as c. 850, European scholars considered the name to be derived from the Greek words aitho “I burn” + ops “face”.
The name Ethiopia also occurs in many translations of the Old Testament, but the Hebrew texts have Kush, which refers principally to Nubia. In the New Testament, however, the Greek term Aithiops, ‘an Ethiopian’, does occur, referring to a servant of Candace or Kentakes, possibly an inhabitant of Meroe which was later conquered and destroyed by the Kingdom of Axum. The earliest attested use of the name Ityopya in the region itself is as a name for the Kingdom of Aksum in the 4th century, in stone inscriptions of King Ezana, who first Christianized the entire apparatus of the kingdom. In English, and generally outside of Ethiopia, the country was also once historically known as Abyssinia, derived from Habesh, an early Arabic form of the Ethiosemitic name “Ḥabaśāt” (unvocalized “ḤBŚT”).
The etymology of the Latin word Maurus the Latin word Maurus (Moor; Mauretanian) derived from the Greek word Mauros derived from the Greek word mauros Derivations in Latin maurellus
Derivations in other languages
French Moor, French More, Italian moro, Italian mauro, Moro moresco, Romanian maur, Spanish Moro, Spanish mauro, Spanish moro, Spanish moros, Mauro (Italian), Mauro (Portuguese (Brazilian))
If you notice all of the different variations of “Mor” remain consistent in sound and appearance as for Black, Negro, etc. For those that believe “Moor” means “Black”, the Spanish for “Black” is not “Moro”, “Mauro” or “Moros” but “Negro” or “Negros”. The French word for “Black” and “Negro” is not “More” or “Maure”, but “Noir”.
What many illiterate individuals have a problem understanding is that simply because a Moor’s skin color or complexion is described as “Black” (En.) or “Negro” (Sp.), that said description does not Constitute the “Moors” tribal Identity or nationality, Pedigree or parentage and the same is for those who chose to use the Euro-Anthropologic created terms “Negroid” to describe the “Moors” scientifically when they are technically described as being “Caucasoid” and both terms are defined by linguistics not skin complexion. These terms are Xenonyms.
“What many African American or Black Americans have not been educated on is the fact that in 1441 the Portuguese started applying the term “Negro” to “Moors” they captured from the coast of Mauretania to modern day Liberia, this occurs about 51 years before the loss of Al Andalus i.e. Moorish Spain.”
“Thus Free Moors were not booked as “Negros” but “Moors” who were captured were booked as “Negros” and this is partially why the terms “Black”, “Negro” have an association with “Slave Status” and or “Criminality”, as the Portuguese holding to their Christian faith viewed the Moors as infidels because they did not believe Christ to be the Son of God and several other distinctions that existed between Islamic Doctrine and the doctrine of Christiandom.”
There are Moorish Americans who wrongly and blindly believe that “Moabite” is the root word for Moroccan. This belief derives from the MSTA Questionnaire for Children, although many adults believe these questions and answers. Moabite is not the ancient name for Moroccan. But Cushite is the Ancient name for Moor as can be seen above or to be more precise the Hebrew i.e. Semitic Name and source for the English term “Moor”.
“Moors” do possess Canaanite (Phoenician) ancestry, however the “Moabites” were not the only group of Canaanites in general, nor the only group Canaanite people from which “Moors” descend, and historically the Moabite women were absorbed by the Nabataeans (founders of Kuffic/Arabic) and many of the Moabite men were killed by the Israelite’s during battle. The Moabites as a Nation existed in the early half of 1st millennium BCE. They were conquered by the Israelites. The Talmud expresses the view that the prohibition only applied to male Moabite, who were not allowed to marry born Jews or legitimate converts. Female Moabites, when converted to Judaism, were permitted to marry with only the normal prohibition of a convert marrying a kohen (priest) applying.”
“The etymology of the word “Moab” is uncertain. The earliest gloss is found in the Septuagint which explains the name, in obvious allusion to the account of “Moab’s” parentage, as ἐκ τοῦ πατρός μου. Other etymologies which have been proposed regard it as a corruption of “seed of a father”, or as a participial form from “to desire”, thus connoting “the desirable (land)”.
Rashi explains the word Mo’ab to mean “from the father”, since ab in Hebrew and Arabic and the rest of the Semitic languages means “father”. He writes that as a result of the immodesty of Moab’s name, God didn’t command the Jews to refrain from inflicting pain upon the Moabites in the manner in which he did with regards to the Ammonites. Fritz Hommel regards Moab as an abbreviation ofImmo-ab = “his mother is his father..
Compare the Hebrew Script for Moab with the Hebrew Script for Kush. Moab (ˈmoʊæb/; Moabite: Mʾb; Arabic مؤاب Mu’āb; Hebrew: מוֹאָב, Modern Mo’av, Tiberian Môʼāḇ ; “seed of father”; Greek Μωάβ Mōáb; Assyrian Mu’aba, Ma’ba, Ma’ab; Egyptian Mu’ab) is the historical name for a mountainous strip of land in Jordan.Cush, also spelled Kush (/kʊʃ,kʌʃ/; Arabic كوش Hebrew: כּוּשׁ Kûš) mentioned in the “Table of Nations” in the Genesis 10:6 and I Chronicles 1:8.
Cush is traditionally considered the eponymous ancestor of the people of the “land of Cush,” an ancient territory that is believed to have been located on either side or both sides of the Red Sea. As such, “Cush” is alternately identified in Scripture with the kingdom of Meroë, ancient Aethiopia, and/or the Arabian peninsula.
“country in northwest Africa, from Italian, from Berber Marrakesh (properly the name of the city of Marrakesh), from Arabic Maghrib-al-Aqsa “Extreme West.” Compare French Maroc, German Marokko. In English, the first vowel has been altered, apparently by the influence of Moor. Related: Moroccan.”
Source: the Etymology Dictionary
“North African, Berber,” late 14c., from Old French More, from Medieval Latin Morus, from Latin Maurus “inhabitant of Mauritania” (northwest Africa, a region now corresponding to northern Algeria and Morocco), from Greek Mauros, perhaps a native name, or else cognate with mauros “black” (but this adjective only appears in late Greek and may as well be from the people’s name as the reverse).”
“Being a dark people in relation to Europeans, their name in the Middle Ages was a synonym for “Negro;” later (16c.-17c.) used indiscriminately of Muslims (Persians, Arabs, etc.) but especially those in India.”
See the Etymology Dictionary
“Moab” was not listed among the peoples in the aforementioned Table of Nations and as Canaanites are ultimately “Kushites” or descendants of “Kushites” rather through their Canaanite ancestry. Genesis 36:35 references Moab as a country.”
“Hebrew scholar David M. Goldenberg has suggested that the Hebrew name is derived from Kash, the Egyptian name of Lower Nubia and later of the Nubian kingdom at Napata, known as the Kingdom of Kush.”
“The form Kush appears in Egyptian records as early as the reign of Mentuhotep II (21st century BC), in an inscription detailing his campaigns against the Nubian region. At the time of the compilation of the Hebrew Bible, and throughout classical antiquity, the Nubian kingdom was centered at Meroe in the modern-day nation of Sudan. Scholars like Johann Michaelis and Rosenmuller have pointed out that the name Cush was applied to tracts of country on both sides of the Red Sea, in the Arabian Peninsula (Yemen) and Northeast Africa. Masudi‘s The Meadows of Gold (947 AD); Wahb ibn Munabbih (738) included among Cush’s offspring “the “Qaran”, the Zaghawa, the Habesha, the Qibt, and the Barbar“.
“The Berbers were called Al-Barbar by the Arabs, the early modern Barbary seems to be a re-adoption of the name from Arabic.[citation needed] Muslim historiography has an eponymous Barbar as the ancestor of the Berbers, “the Berbers were the descendants of Barbar, the son of Tamalla, the son of Mazigh, the son of Canaan , the son of Ham, the son of Noah” (Ibn Khaldun, The History of Ibn Khaldun, Chapter 3). See Berbers were the descendants of Barbar.
“The name Kush (Cush) can be found from India to Africa and the Middle East. They were the founders of many great civilizations including ancient Egypt. And they have a significant presence in scriptures. It is noteworthy that some of them, like the Ethiopians and the Canaanites, spoke Semitic, and not Hamitic, languages–Seba (if connected with the Sabeans), Havilah (Yemen), and Sheba, whose queen visited Solomon. Professor Archibald Sayce, moreover, has pointed out that Caphtor (the original country of the Philistines before their emigration into Palestine) is the original home of the Phoenicians (Canaanites), who spoke a Semitic language.”
Also, review בנטם-מגדו מלון עברי ואנגלי חדש The New Bantam-Megiddo Hebrew & English Dictionary
The photo provided above was taken by A. C. El. Further demonstrates the term Moor and Moorish are found in modern Hebrew dictionaries. “
“A “Biblical Canaan/Ham” needs to be distinguished from the historical Canaan/Ham (or a “historical Israel” from a “literary” or “Biblical Israel”) because the Hebrew Bible contrasts the Canaanites from the nation of Israel, while historically and archaeologically, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were a subset of Canaanite/Hamitic culture.”
“Therefore, the Hamitic racial strain and the Shemitic (Semitic) racial strain is but one race. This may explain the Quranic silence on the issue.”
“How do we account for Semitic languages being spoken of in Hamitic lands and visa versa?”
“The 20th -century language scholar, Frederick Bodmer17, added: “Though the Semitic and Hamitic group diverge widely, their kinship is generally recognized.”
“They share more root-words than can be explained by borrowing, and they have some common grammatical peculiarities.”
“Russian scholars and linguists of the 1960s (e.g. V.V Shevoroshkin), concluded that there must have been a single original Mother Tongue.”
Source: Kush in the Quran
