Etymology

Gnawa

G2N1A1W4A1

Today it means: Any member of an ethnic group and Sufi religious order in Morocco. Full definition →

French Gnaoua ← Moroccan Arabic ڭناوة ← Tashelhit agnaw
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The story

  1. Tashelhit · derived fromagnaw“stutterer, a person of sub-Saharan origin”
  2. Moroccan Arabic · derived fromڭناوة
  3. French · borrowed fromGnaoua
  4. English todayGnawa

From French Gnaoua, from Moroccan Arabic ڭناوة (gnāwa), from Tashelhit agnaw (“stutterer, a person of sub-Saharan origin”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.