Bambara language
In countries where FGM is common, the practice's many variants are reflected in dozens of terms, often alluding to purification. In the Bambara language, spoken mostly in Mali, it is known as "bolokoli" ("washing your hands") and in the Igbo language in eastern Nigeria as "isa aru" or "iwu aru" ("having your bath"). A common Arabic term for purification has the root "t-h-r", used for male and female circumcision ("tahur" and "tahara"). It is also known in Arabic as "khafḍ" or "khifaḍ". Communities may refer to FGM as "pharaonic" for infibulation and "sunna" circumcision for everything else; "sunna" means "path or way" in Arabic and refers to the tradition of Muhammad, although none of the procedures are required within Islam. The term "infibulation" derives from "fibula", Latin for clasp; the Ancient Romans reportedly fastened clasps through the foreskins or labia of slaves to prevent sexual intercourse. The surgical infibulation of women came to be known as pharaonic circumcision in Sudan and as Sudanese circumcision in Egypt. In Somalia, it is known simply as "qodob" ("to sew up").