Arnaut
nounUS /ˈɑɹˌnaʊt/
Etymology From Turkish arnavut, from Ottoman Turkish آرناوود (arnavut, “an Albanian”). Entered Ottoman Turkish from the Byzantine Greek ethnonym Arvanitis (Αρβανίτης) after the syllable cluster van was rearranged through metathesis to nav giving the final Turkish forms as Arnavut and Arnaut. Meanwhile in Greek the name Arvanitis was derived from the original term Alvanitis (Ἀλβάνίτης) as a process of rhotacism Alv- into Arv-. In return Alvanitis stems from the name Alvanos (Ἀλβάνος) Albanian, from Ancient Greek Ἀλβανοί (Albanoí).
Historical An inhabitant of Albania and neighboring mountainous regions, especially an Albanian serving in the Turkish army.
- I know him by his jet-black barb, / Though now array'd in Arnaut garb, [...]1813, Lord Byron, The Giaour, a Fragment of a Turkish Tale, London: […] T[homas] Davison, […], for John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 18:
Government, Military, Politics, War Historical A Greek, Albanian, Bulgarian or Serbian soldier, recruited to serve as body-guard to officials in the 18th-19th c. Wallachia and Moldavia. Greek militia units formed in Crimea, 1769.
- Included under the generic name of Arnauts, it was recruited from Roumeliote Greeks, Albanians, Bulgarians, and Servians, who acted as body-guards to the princes, the great functionaries, and eve the simple Boyards [in Danubian Principalities, early 19th c.]1844, Thomas Gordon, History of the Greek Revolution, 2nd edition, volume 1, page 1: