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mosque: msg#00012culture.language.word-of-the-day
***************************************************************** Discover the people and events that made history ON THIS DAY. Sign up for the free daily newsletter from Britannica. http://register.britannica.com/mailinglist ***************************************************************** The Word of the Day for November 13 is: mosque \MAHSK\ noun : a building used for public worship by Muslims Example sentence: On the last day of Ramadan, Fatimah and her family attended prayer services at a local mosque. Did you know? Mosques were known to the English-speaking world long before we called them "mosques." In the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, we used many different variations of the word -- "moseak," "muskey," "moschy," "mos'keh," among others -- until we finally hit on "mosquee," emulating Middle French. The Middle French word had come by way of Italian and Old Spanish from the Arabic word for "temple," which is "masjid." In the early 1700s, we settled on the present spelling, and "mosque" thus joined other English words related to Muslim worship: "mihrab," for the special niche in a mosque that points towards Mecca; "minaret," for the tall slender tower of a mosque; and "muezzin," for the crier who, standing in the minaret, calls the hour of daily prayers. |
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