dragoman
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.67 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An interpreter, especially for the Arabic and Turkish languages.
Example Sentences
- "Engaging William Prime's (q.v.) dragoman, he visits the bazaars, mosques, and Pyramids before sailing in the dahabeeya Rip Van Winkle up the Nile."
- "Dragomans altered the pasha's language to put it in a form best suited to performing the act that the principal intended. […] Far from being ‘free’, the dragomans' reformulation of the words of the source expressed subservience to their principal's intention."
Etymology
From Middle English dragman, from Old French drugeman, from Medieval Latin dragumannus, from Byzantine Greek δραγομάνος (dragomános), from Arabic تُرْجُمَان (turjumān), from Classical Syriac ܬܰܪܓܡܳܢܳܐ (targmānā), from Akkadian 𒅴𒁄 (targumannum, “interpreter”). With the plural form -men, through reinterpretation as suffixed with -man. Doublet of truchman.