muwashshah

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic مُوَشَّح (muwaššaḥ, “girdled”) (plural مُوَشَّحَات (muwaššaḥāt) or تَوَاشِيح (tawāšīḥ)).

Noun

muwashshah (plural muwashshahat or tawashih or muwashshahs)

1. An Arabic ode, a multi-lined strophic verse poem, generally of five stanzas alternating with a refrain.
2. An Arabic song which uses a (frequently secular) text written in this verse as its lyrics.

Usage notes

• The plural muwashshahat, formed according to Arabic rules, is the plural form most commonly encountered in English texts.
• The plural muwashshahs, formed according to English rules, is the second most common.
• The plural tawashih, also formed according to Arabic rules, is rarely encountered.

Quotations

• 2006, María Rosa Menocal, Raymond P. Scheindlin, Michael Sells, The Literature of Al-Andalus, page 175:

  The last two composed several hundred religious muwashshahs each, […]

• 2009, Joseph Yahalom, Yehuda Halevi: poetry and pilgrimage, page 36:

  PROFANE GAMES IN HEBREW MUWASHSHAHAT