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Origin and history of morocco

morocco(n.)

"kind of fine flexible leather," 1630s, earlier maroquin (16c.), via French; ultimately from Morocco, the country in northwest Africa, where the sumac-tanned goatskin leather first was made. Valued for its firmness of texture, flexibility, and grained surface, it was used to make durable book-bindings, for upholstering seats, and somewhat in shoe-making.

Morocco

country in northwest Africa, from Italian, from Berber Marrakesh (properly the name of the city of Marrakesh), from Arabic Maghrib-al-Aqsa "Extreme West." Compare French Maroc, German Marokko. In English, the first vowel has been altered, apparently by influence of Moor. Related: Moroccan.

Entries linking to morocco

moor(v.)

"to fasten (a ship) in a particular location by or as by cables, anchors, etc.," late 15c., probably related to Old English mærels "mooring rope," via unrecorded *mærian "to moor," or possibly borrowed from Middle Low German moren or Middle Dutch maren "to moor," from West Germanic *mairojan. Related: Moored, mooring. French amarrer is from Dutch.

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    bluchers
    Prince Blucher demi boots were described in 1815 as "military (or half-boots), of royal purple, or dark blue morocco or kid...
    cordwainer
    It is sometimes goatskin tanned and dressed, but more frequently split horsehide; it differs from morocco in being prepared...
    Averroes
    Latinization of name of Ibn Rushd (1126-1198) of Cordova, Arab philosopher and physician of Spain and Morocco....
    canary
    this is folk-etymology, and the name might instead be that of the Canarii, a Berber people who lived near the coast of Morocco...
    Brazil
    "red dyewood" word by association with Pliny's Insulae Purpurariae ("Purple Islands") in the Atlantic off the coast of Morocco...
    elephant
    procure elephants, since in antiquity the animal was found native in the regions of North Africa now known as Tripoli and Morocco...
    Levant
    "Mediterranean lands east of Italy," especially the coastal region and islands of Asia Minor, Syria, and Lebanon, late 15c., from French levant "the Orient" (12c.), from present participle of lever "to rise" (from Latin levare "to raise," from PIE root *legwh- "not heavy, having
    leather
    Old English leðer (only in compounds) "tanned or otherwise dressed hide or skin of an animal," from Proto-Germanic *lethran (source also of Old Norse leðr, Old Frisian lether, Old Saxon lethar, Middle Dutch, Dutch leder, Old High German ledar, German Leder), from PIE *letro- "lea
    granite
    1640s, from French granit(e) (17c.) or directly from Italian granito "granite," originally "grained," past-participle adjective from granire "granulate, make grainy," from grano "grain," from Latin granum "grain" (from PIE root *gre-no- "grain"). In reference to the appearance of
    moonlight
    "hold a second job, especially at night," 1957 (implied in the verbal noun moonlighting), from moonlighter "one who takes a second job after hours" (1954), from the notion of working by the light of the moon; see moonlight (n.). Earlier the verb had been used to mean "commit crim

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