eissalot

Old Occitan

Alternative forms

• exalot, issalot
• eissiroc, eyssiroc, siroc, eissaloc(h), exaloc(h)

Etymology

Likely from Massalian Ancient Greek *ἐξαλώτης (*exalṓtēs), from ἔξαλος (éxalos, “out of the sea”). Alternatively, and less likely, from Arabic شَرْق (šarq, “east”). The form eissalot is one of the oldest recorded (1291) and corresponds closely to the Greek word. Subsequently there developed variants showing the suffix -oc.

Noun

eissalot m (oblique plural eissalots, nominative singular eissalots, nominative plural eissalot)

1. wind blowing from the southeast

Descendants

• → Catalan: xaloc
• → Italian: scirocco
  • → Arabic: شَلُوق (šalūq), شَلُوك (šalūk)
    • Maltese: xlokk
    • >? Maltese: xellug
  • → Dutch: sirocco
  • → English: sirocco, sciroc, siroc, scirocco
  • → French: sirocco, siroc (archaic)
  • → Greek: σιρόκος (sirókos)

References

• Kahane, Henry R., Kahane, Renée, Tietze, Andreas (1958) The Lingua Franca in the Levant: Turkish Nautical Terms of Italian and Greek Origin, Urbana: University of Illinois, page 406 Nr. 603