, the later form of a word Tāzīk or Tāžīk used in the Iranian and Turkish worlds. In Islamic usage, it eventually came to designate the Persians, as opposed to the Turks.
1. Etymology and early linguistic development of the term.
The traditional explanation of the term goes back at least to E. Quatremère, Histoire des sultans mamelouks de l’Egypte , ii/2, Paris 1845, 154-5, and was set forth, e.g., in Barthold’s EI 1 art. This derives Tāzīk, etc./Tād̲j̲īk from the name of the Arab tribe of Ṭayyiʾ [q.v.], Syriac Ṭayyāyē, meaning “Arabs”, said to have been the first Arab tribe encoun…