fellah

Where does the word "fellah" come from? It comes from Arabic falaha, passing through Arabic before entering English (1743).

Fellah’s story begins in Arabic: falaha meant “to plow.” Meant "to plow, to till the soil". Within Arabic, it grew into fallah by medieval. Named the peasant farmer who worked the land. It reached English by 1743 as fellah. First recorded in 1743 in the travel account of Richard Pococke, who toured Egypt in the 1730s. Today, fellah means a peasant or agricultural laborer in Egypt or other Arab countries.

1. Stage 1 · Arabic · medieval falaha "to plow", meant "to plow, to till the soil".
2. Stage 2 · Arabic · medieval fallah "plowman, peasant", named the peasant farmer who worked the land.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1743 fellah "Egyptian peasant farmer", first recorded in 1743 in the travel account of Richard Pococke, who toured Egypt in the 1730s.