Jinn - Etymology and Definitions

Etymology and Definitions

Jinn is a noun of the collective number in Arabic literally meaning "hidden from sight", and it derives from the Arabic root ǧ-n-n meaning "to hide" or "be hidden". Other words derived from this root are maǧnūn 'mad' (literally, 'one whose intellect is hidden'), ǧunūn 'madness', and ǧanīn 'embryo, fetus' ('hidden inside the womb').

The Arabic root ǧ-n-n means 'to hide, conceal'. A word for garden or Paradise, جنّة ǧannah, is a cognate of the Hebrew word גן gan 'garden', derived from the same Semitic root. In arid climates, gardens have to be protected against desertification by walls; this is the same concept as in the word "paradise" from pairi-daêza, an Avestan word for garden that literally means 'having walls built around'. Thus the protection of a garden behind walls implies its being hidden from the outside. Arabic lexicons such as Edward William Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon define ǧinn not only as spirits, but also anything concealed through time, status, and even physical darkness.

The word genie in English is derived from Latin genius, meant a sort of tutelary or guardian spirit thought to be assigned to each person at their birth. English borrowed the French descendant of this word, génie; its earliest written attestation in English, in 1655, is a plural spelled "genyes." The French translators of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights used génie as a translation of jinnī because it was similar to the Arabic word in sound and in meaning. This use was also adopted in English and has since become dominant.

Many cultural interpretations noted the Jinn as having distinct male and females, they would often appear wearing vests and sashes, various interpretations note that they tied their hair long vertically. According to various stories Jinn could exist independently or bound to any particular object.

In Arabic, the word ǧinn is in the collective number, translated in English as plural (e.g., "several genies"); ǧinnī is in the singulative number, used to refer to one individual, which is translated by the singular in English (e.g., "one genie"). Therefore, the word 'jinn' in English writing is treated as a plural.