The word “coffee” entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch “koffie,” borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish “kahve,” borrowed in turn from the Arabic “qahwah.” The Arabic word qahwah was traditionally held to refer to a type of wine.
MASTABA
mastaba, mastabah
(noun) an ancient Egyptian mud-brick tomb with a rectangular base and sloping sides and flat roof; “the Egyptian pyramids developed from the mastaba”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
mastaba (plural mastabas)
A wide stone bench built into the wall of a house, shop etc. in the Middle East.
(architecture) A rectangular structure with a flat top and slightly sloping sides, built during Ancient Egyptian times above tombs that were situated on flat land. Mastabas were made of wood, mud bricks, stone, or a combination of these materials. Some are solid structures, while others can contain one or more rooms, sometimes decorated with paintings or inscriptions.
Source: Wiktionary
Mas"ta*ba, n. Also Mas"ta*bah . [Ar. maçtabah a large stone bench.]
1. In Mohammedan countries, a fixed seat, common in dwellings and in public places.
2. (Egyptology) A type of tomb, of the time of the Memphite dynasties, comprising an oblong structure with sloping sides (sometimes containing a decorated chamber, sometimes of solid masonry), and connected with a mummy chamber in the rock beneath.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Word of the Day
19 November 2024
SALTWORT
(noun) bushy plant of Old World salt marshes and sea beaches having prickly leaves; burned to produce a crude soda ash
Coffee Trivia
