dragoman
pronunciation
How to pronounce dragoman in British English:
UK ['drægə(ʊ)mən]
How to pronounce dragoman in American English:
US ['drægəmən]
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- Noun:
- an interpreter and guide in the Near East; in the Ottoman Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries a translator of European languages for the Turkish and Arab authorities and most dragomans were Greek (many reached high positions in the government)
Word Origin
- dragoman
- dragoman: [16] Dragoman ‘Arabic guide or interpreter’ comes via early modern French dragoman, Italian dragomano, medieval Greek dragómanos, early Arabic targumān, and Aramaic tūrgemānā from Akkadian targumānu ‘interpreter’, a derivative of the verb ragāmu ‘call’. It is one of the few English nouns ending in -man which forms its plural simply by adding -s (desman ‘small molelike animal’ is another).
- dragoman (n.)
- early 14c., from Old French drugemen, from late Greek dragoumanos, from Arabic targuman "interpreter," from targama "interpret." Treated in English as a compound, with plural -men.
Example
- 1. Dragoman : maybe they are praying for their own life !