# ناموس
## Arabic
### Etymology

From Classical Syriac ܢܳܡܘܿܣܳܐ (nāmōsā), from Ancient Greek νόμος (nómos). Already in Pre-Islamic times the meaning of this foreign word got debauched and hence apart from the application for “godly law”, from which the word originates, it has meant human law, virtue, respect, doctrines, even natural laws. And the application to a certain person derives from the role of Gabriel entrusted in transmitting the revelations of the God of the Gesetzesreligion. This in turn has been misunderstood again as meaning “angel”, hence also the nisba meaning نَامُوسِيّ (nāmūsiyy, “angelic”). But more vulgarly this relates to all meanings of the three consonants in relation to something being “hidden”; hence also the meaning “cunning”, that is the property of somebody who hides his plans well. In particular the sense of a nematocerous insect – originally African Arabic – comes hence since these insects are active at night and alight in marsh bushes by day, as well as the name of the polecat نِمْس (nims), since these beasts are active at night and alight in burrows, alcoves, wall niches, boles by day. And the name of a cromlech is related to the belief that such stone structures hide mysteries that could only be unveiled by a مَغْرَبِيّ (maḡrabiyy).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /naː.muːs/

### Noun

نَامُوس • (nāmūs) m (plural نَوَامِيس (nawāmīs))
* namus, mos sive fas – one of the notoriously hard to define terms like morals or conscience
* confidant, who is trusted in keeping a thing
** 7th century CE, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Buḵāriyy, 60:66:هَذَا النَّامُوسُ الَّذِي أَنْزَلَ اللّٰهُ عَلَى مُوسَىhaḏā an-nāmūsu allaḏī ʔanzala llāhu ʕalā mūsāThis is the confidant whom God has sent down to Moses.
* latibulum, where a hunter or hunting animal retreats to prey later
    Synonyms: قُتْرَة (qutra), قُرْمُوص (qurmūṣ), زَرِيبَة (zarība), زَرْب (zarb)
* cromlech, a stone circle, a lithic burial structure in the Sinai connected to various superstitions (also known as namus in English archaeological writing)

#### Derived terms

* أَنْمَس (ʔanmas, “turbid, dim”)
* تَنَمَّسَ (tanammasa, “to be hidden, to be concealed”)
* تَنَمَّسَ (tanammasa, “to make it law for oneself”)
* رَامُوس (rāmūs, “grave soil”)
* رَمْس (rams, “grave soil”)
* نَامَسَ (nāmasa, “to communicate a secret to”)
* نَامُوسِيّ (nāmūsiyy, “related to nāmūs”)
* نَمَسَ (namasa, “to keep in secret”)
* نَمَّسَ (nammasa, “to deceive, to make a jiggery-pokery”)
* نِمْس (nims, “polecat”)

#### Descendants

* → Azerbaijani: namus
* → English: namus
* → Hebrew: נאמוס
* → Central Kurdish: نامووس (namûs)
* → Persian: ناموس
** → Southern Altai: намыс (namïs)
** Bashkir: намыҫ (namıś)
** Kazakh: намыс (namys)
** Kyrgyz: намыс (namıs)
** Tatar: намус (namus)
** Uzbek: nomus
** Uyghur: نومۇس (nomus)
* → Ottoman Turkish: ناموس (namus)
** Turkish: namus
** → Abkhaz: анамыс (anaməs)
** → Armenian: նամուս (namus)
** → Avar: намус (namus)
** → Georgian: ნამუსი (namusi)
*** → Bats: ნამუს (namus)
*** → Mingrelian: ლამოსი (lamosi), ლამუსი (lamusi)
**** → Abkhaz: а́ламыс (álaməs)
** → Ossetian: намыс (namys)
* → Swahili: nemsi

### Noun

نَامُوس • (nāmūs) m (collective, singulative نَامُوسَة f (nāmūsa), plural نَامُوسَات (nāmūsāt))
* any Nematocera insect: crane flies, gnats, mosquitoes
    Synonyms: بَعُوض (baʕūḍ), (Iraq) بَقّ (baqq), (Syria) قِرْقِس (qirqis), (Syria) جِرْجِس (jirjis), بَرْغَش (barḡaš), خَمُوش (ḵamūš)

#### Derived terms

* نَامُوسِيّة (nāmūsiyya, “protective net against nematocerous insects”)

### Adjective

نَامُوس • (nāmūs) (obsolete)
* cunning, astute

#### Declension
### References

* Dozy, Reinhart Pieter Anne (1881) “ناموس”, in Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes‎ (in French), volume 2, Leiden: E. J. Brill, pages 725–726
* Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 278
* Freytag, Georg (1837) “ناموس”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎ (in Latin), volume 4, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 227
* Freytag, Georg (1837) “ناموس”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎ (in Latin), volume 4, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 338
* Lagarde, Paul de (1887) Mittheilungen (in German), volume 2, Göttingen: Dieterichsche Sortimentsbuchhandlung, page 358
* Nöldeke, Theodor (1858) “Hatte Muḥammad christliche Lehrer?”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft (in German), volume 12, pages 701–702
* Sprenger, Aloys (1859) “Über den Ursprung und die Bedetung des arabischen Wortes Nâmûs”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft‎ (in German), volume 13, archived from the original on 3 August 2019, pages 690–701
* Viré, François (1993) “NĀMŪS”, in The Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, Leiden: E. J. Brill, →ISBN, pages 953–956
* Vollers, Karl (1893) “Vier Lehnwörter im Arabischen”, in Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und verwandte Gebiete‎ (in German), volume 8, pages 102–104
* Wehr, Hans with Kropfitsch, Lorenz (1985) “ناموس”, in Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart‎ (in German), 5th edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, published 2011, →ISBN, page 1317

## Moroccan Arabic
### Etymology

From Arabic نَامُوس (nāmūs).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /naː.muːs/

### Noun

ناموس • (nāmūs) m (collective, singulative ناموسة f (nāmūsa), paucal ناموسات (nāmūsāt))
* mosquitoes
    Synonym: شنيولة (šnīwla)

## Ottoman Turkish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic نَامُوس (nāmūs, “confidant; namus, honor”), from Classical Syriac ܢܳܡܘܿܣܳܐ (nāmōsā), ultimately from Ancient Greek νόμος (nómos, “usage, custom”).

### Noun

ناموس • (namus) (definite accusative ناموسی (namusu), plural نوامیس (nevâmis))
* confidant, a person in whom one can confide or share one's secrets, especially an intimate of a great personage
    Synonym: بطانه (bıtane)
* honor, virtue, the state of being morally upright, honest, noble, virtuous, and magnanimous, excellence of character
    Synonyms: شان (şan), شرف (şeref)
* namus, a concept of virtue and honor within a family, typically relating to chastity and modesty of female family members

#### Derived terms

* ناموس اكبر (namus-i ekber, “the archangel Gabriel”)
* ناموسسز (namussuz, “without shame or honor”)
* ناموسكار (namuskâr, “honest”)
* ناموسلو (namuslu, “possessed of a keen sense of honor”)

#### Descendants

* Turkish: namus
* → Abkhaz: а-намыс (a-naməs)
* → Albanian: namus
* → Georgian: ნამუსი (namusi)
** → Bats: ნამუს (namus)
** → Mingrelian: ლამოსი (lamosi), ლამუსი (lamusi)
*** → Abkhaz: а́ламыс (álaməs)
* → Middle Armenian: նամուս (namus)
** Armenian: նամուս (namus)
* → Ossetian: намыс (namys)

### Further reading

* Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “namus”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 3488
* Devellioğlu, Ferit (1962) “nâmûs”, in Osmanlıca-Türkçe Ansiklopedik Lûgat‎‎ (in Turkish), Istanbul: Türk Dil Kurumu, page 963
* Kélékian, Diran (1911) “ناموس”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎, Constantinople: Mihran, page 1266
* Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Existimatio”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎, Vienna, column 509
* Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “ناموس”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎, Vienna, columns 5117-5118
* Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “namus”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
* Redhouse, James W. (1890) “ناموس”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 2067

## Persian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic نَامُوس (nāmūs), from Ancient Greek νόμος (nómos).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [nɑː.ˈmuːs]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [nɑː.múːs]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [nɑː.múːs]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [nɑː.múːs]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [nɔː.mús]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [nɒː.múːs]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [nɔ.mús]

### Noun

ناموس • (nâmus)
* namus: notion of honor, moral reputation, and female chastity
* (by extension) female family member (from a male perspective)
* law, regulation
** c. 1520, Selim I of the Ottoman Empire, edited by Benedek Péri, The Persian Dīvān of Yavuz Sulṭān Selīm, Budapest, Hungary: Research Centre for the Humanities, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, →ISBN, page 275:بیقراری هم ندارم ز آن که در ناموس عشق روز و شب امید جان بیقرار من توییbē-qarārī ham na-dāram zi ān ki dar nāmūs-i išq rōz u šab ummēd-i jān-i bē-qarār-i man tō-yīI am not even restless, since by the law of love, You are the hope of my restless soul day and night.(Classical Persian transliteration)

#### Derived terms

* بی‌ناموس (bi-nâmus)
* ناموسی (nâmusi)

## South Levantine Arabic
### Etymology

From Arabic نَامُوس (nāmūs).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /naː.muːs/, [naˈmuːs]
* Audio (Ramallah):(file)

### Noun

ناموس • (nāmūs) m (collective, singulative ناموسة f (nāmūse))
* mosquitoes
    Synonyms: هسهس (his-his), بَعُوض (baʕūḍ)