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Revision as of 18:57, 19 January 2006 by Diyako (talk | contribs) (Expanded)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Template:Otheruses2 Ajam (عجم) in Arabic primarly means non-Arab, or in particular non-Arabic-speaker. Other meanings are Persian, Barbarian (non-civilized wilds) or Stranger generally. Some consider it a derogatory word. In the Middle East, it commonly refers to Persians, while in al-Andalus it referred to speakers of Romance languages - becoming "Aljamiado" in Spanish in reference to Arabic-script writing of those languages - and in West Africa, Ajami similarly refers to the writing of local languages such as Hausa and Fulani in the Arabic alphabet.in east africa and zanzebar ajami and ajamo means persian who had a root from persian gulf and the city of shiraz and siraf. Among the Kurdish people Ajam means Persians and Azeri people in particulare and other Iranian people as a whole.
The Arabic family name "Ajami" (عجمي), well-known bearers of which include Fouad Ajami, normally indicates Persian descent.
A Persian folk etymology derives the word from the name of an ancient Persian king, Jamshid; this is linguistically improbable. In many books postdating the Arab conquest, for instance the Shahnameh of Ferdousi, the word is used to refer to Iranians and to the Persian language.
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