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kur·bash

(krbăsh)

A whip, traditionally made of hippopotamus hide and used for punishment in parts of the Middle East, especially in Egypt from Pharaonic times until the early 1900s and in the Ottoman Empire.

tr.v. kur·bashed, kur·bash·ing, kur·bash·es

To punish with a kurbash.

[Ultimately (partly via French courbache) from Arabic kurbāj, from Turkish kırbaç, whip, probably alteration (perhaps in imitation of a cracking whip) of earlier *kırmaç; akin to Azerbaijani kırmaç, gırmanç : perhaps kır-, stem of kırmak, to break, break down (resistance), Old Turkic qırmaq, to cut, break + -maç, n. suff.; akin to Old Turkic -maç.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

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Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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