Hookah - Names and Etymology

Names and Etymology

Nargile (but sometimes pronounced Argileh or Argilee) is the name most commonly used in Syria, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel. Nargile derives from the Persianword nārghile, meaning coconut, which in turn is from the Sanskrit word nārikela (नारिकेल), suggesting that early hookahs were hewn from coconut shells.

In Albania, the hookah is called "lula" or "lulava" in Romani, meaning "pipe"; the word "Tub" refers to the actual bottle piece.

In Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria, nagile (нагиле; from Turkish nargile) is used to refer to the pipe. Šiša (шиша) refers to the tobacco that is smoked in it. The pipes there often have one or two mouth pieces. The flavored tobacco, created by marinating cuts of [s placed above the water and covered by pierced foil with hot coals placed on top, and the smoke is drawn through cold water to cool and filter it.

"Narguile", is the common word in Spain used to refer to the pipe, although "cachimba" is also used, along with "shisha" by Moroccan immigrants in Spain.

Sheesha (شيشة), from the Persian word shīshe (شیشه), meaning glass, is the common term for the hookah in Egypt, Sudan and the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf (including Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, UAE, and Saudi Arabia), and in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Somalia and Yemen.

In Iran, hookah is called "Qalyān" (Persian:Qalyān). Persian qalyan is included in the earliest European compendium on tobacco, the tobacolgia written by Johan Neander and published in Dutch in 1622. It seems that over time water pipes acquired an Iranian connotation as in eighteenth-century Egypt the most fashionable pipes were called Karim Khan after the Iranian ruler of the day. This is also the name used in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

In Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, a hookah is called chillim.

In India and Pakistan the name most similar to the English hookah is used: huqqa (हुक़्क़ा /حقّہ).

In Maldives, hookah is called "Gudugudaa".

The hookah pipe is also known as the "Marra pipe" in the UK, especially in the North East, where it is used for recreational purposes.

The widespread use of the Indian word "hookah" in the English language is a result of the British Raj, the British dominion of India (1858–1947), when large numbers of expatriate Britons first sampled the water pipe. William Hickey, shortly after arriving in Kolkata, India, in 1775, wrote in his Memoirs:

The most highly-dressed and splendid hookah was prepared for me. I tried it, but did not like it. As after several trials I still found it disagreeable, I with much gravity requested to know whether it was indispensably necessary that I should become a smoker, which was answered with equal gravity, "Undoubtedly it is, for you might as well be out of the world as out of the fashion. Here everybody uses a hookah, and it is impossible to get on without ... have frequently heard men declare they would much rather be deprived of their dinner than their hookah.