, a form generally retained in European languages for the Arabic riḳḳ “dessicated terrain”, in its Bedouin realisation (Sahara of the Mag̲h̲rib) rẹ̆ gg ; cf. LʿA. s.vv. riḳḳ , raḳḳ , raḳāḳ , ruḳāḳ , with a common denominator meaning “terrain where water has disappeared, at least on the surface”, and with varying connotations. See G. Boris, Lexique du parler arabe des Marazig , Paris 1958, 220: r ^e gāg , pl. r ^e gāgāt , “a wide expanse of desert terrain”.

In French, the word has become a scientific term which may be used in reference to any part of the globe. As a stony flat or…