Open Sesame ( phrase ) - wikipedia Open Sesame ( phrase ) Ali Baba overhearing one of the thieves saying `` Open Sesame ''. `` Open Sesame '' ( French : Sésame, ouvre - toi ) is a magical phrase in the story of `` Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves '' in One Thousand and One Nights. It opens the mouth of a cave in which forty thieves have hidden a treasure. Contents 1 Documentation 2 Classification 3 Use in the story 4 Origin 5 See also 6 Notes 7 Bibliography Documentation The phrase first appears in writing in Antoine Galland 's Les Mille et une nuits ( 1704 -- 1717 ) as Sésame, ouvre - toi ( English, `` Sesame, open ! '' ). No earlier oral or written version of the story is known in any language. Galland 's phrase has been variously translated from the French into English as `` Sesame, Open '', `` Open, Sesame '' and `` Open, O Simsim ''. Classification Open Sesame has been classified by Stith Thompson as motif element D1552. 2, `` Mountain opens to magic formula ''. Use in the story In the story, Ali Baba overhears the 40 thieves saying `` open sesame ''. His brother later can not remember the phrase, and confuses it with the names of other grains ( becoming trapped in the magic cave ). Origin There are many theories about the origin of the phrase. Indeed, it is not certain that the word `` sesame '' actually refers to the sesame plant or seed. Some older theories include : Sesame is a reduplication of the Hebrew šem ' name ' i.e. God or a kabbalistic word representing the Talmudic šem - šamáįm ( `` shem - shamayim '' ), ' name of heaven '. Sesame is connected to Babylonian magic practices which used sesame oil. See also Abracadabra Barbarous names Hocus pocus Notes Jump up ^ `` Les mille et une nuits : contes arabes / traduits par Galland, ornés de gravures ''. Gallica.bnf.fr. 2009 - 05 - 25. Retrieved 2013 - 08 - 15. Jump up ^ `` The Novelist 's Magazine - Google Boeken ''. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2013 - 08 - 15. Jump up ^ Burton Jump up ^ S. Thompson, Motif - index of folk - literature : a classification of narrative elements in folktales, ballads, myths, fables, mediaeval romances, exempla, fabliaux, jest - books, and local legends ``, 1955 - 1958. ( 1 ) cf. Aarne -- Thompson classification system Jump up ^ Armstrong, Marian. Wildlife and Plants. 16. Marshall Cavendish. p. 972. ISBN 978 - 0761477105. Retrieved 2014 - 12 - 24. Jump up ^ Felix Ernst Peiser in `` Orientalistische Literaturzeitung '' ( 1902 ), as reported in Haupt. Jump up ^ Theodor Nöldeke in `` Zeitschrift für Assyriologie '' ( 1914 ), as reported in Haupt. Bibliography ( in English ) Paul Haupt, `` Open Sesame '' in Beiträge zur assyriologie und semitischen sprachwissenschaft 10 : 2, 1927, p. 165ff. Originally presented at the meeting of the American Oriental Society, Washington, April 15, 1916. One Thousand and One Nights Translations Les mille et une nuits ( 1704 -- 1717 ) The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night ( 1885 -- 1888 ) Le livre des mille nuits et une nuit ( 1926 -- 1932 ) Stories Aladdin Ali Baba The Fisherman and the Jinni Sinbad the Sailor The Three Apples Characters Fictional Ali Baba Badroulbadour Old Man of the Sea Scheherazade Sinbad the Sailor Historical Barmakids Harun al - Rashid Hatim al - Tai Ja'far ibn Yahya Khosrow II Abu Nuwas Shirin Zubaidah bint Ja ` far Films The Thief of Bagdad ( 1924 ) Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp ( 1939 ) The Thief of Bagdad ( 1940 ) Arabian Nights ( 1942 ) La Rosa di Bagdad ( 1949 ) The Thief of Bagdad ( 1952 ) 1001 Arabian Nights ( 1959 ) The Thief of Baghdad ( 1961 ) A Thousand and One Nights ( 1969 ) Arabian Nights ( 1974 ) Aladdin ( 1992 ) The Thief and the Cobbler ( 1993 ) Aladdin ( 2019 ) ( Also numerous Sinbad, Aladdin, and Ali Baba films ) Television Scooby - Doo ! in Arabian Nights ( 1994 ) Arabian Nights ( 2000 ) Arabian Nights ( 2015 ) Music Operas Le calife de Bagdad ( 1800 ) Abu Hassan ( 1811 ) Ali Baba ( Cherubini ) ( 1833 ) Der Barbier von Bagdad ( 1858 ) La statue ( 1861 ) Ali - Baba ( Lecocq ) ( 1887 ) Mârouf, savetier du Caire ( 1914 ) Other Scheherazade Op. 35 ( 1888 ) Aladdin ( 1918 -- 1919 ) Literature `` The Thousand - and - Second Tale of Scheherazade '' ( 1845 ) New Arabian Nights ( 1882 ) Slaves of Sleep ( 1939 ) Dunyazadiad ( 1972 ) Arabian Nights and Days ( 1979 ) Two Years Eight Months and Twenty - Eight Nights ( 2015 ) Lists Characters Stories ( Burton translation ) Works influenced by... Related Ghoul Ifrit Jinn Magic carpet Open Sesame Roc ( rukh ) Shahrokh Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Open_Sesame_(phrase)&oldid=807727607 '' Categories : One Thousand and One Nights English phrases Magic words Hidden categories : Articles containing French - language text Talk Contents About Wikipedia Esperanto Հայերեն हिन्दी Italiano Nederlands 日本 語 ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Русский Türkçe اردو 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 29 October 2017, at 20 : 15. About Wikipedia

Question: where does the phrase open sesame come from
Answer: Antoine Galland's Les Mille et une nuits (1704–1717)