Mahomet

views updated May 21 2018

Mahomet an archaic form of Muhammad, recorded from late Middle English; the alternative Mahound is also found.
if the mountain will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the mountain proverbial saying, early 17th century, used in the context of an apparently insoluble situation. The saying refers to a story of Muhammad recounted by Francis Bacon in his Essays, in which the Prophet called a hill to him, and when it did not move, made this remark.
Mahomet's coffin referring to a legend current in European sources and recorded from the medieval period, that the coffin of Muhammad was suspended without visible supports, but by magnets or lodestones, from the ceiling of his tomb.

Mahomet

views updated May 09 2018

Mahomet XIV. ME. Mac(h)amete, Mako- — (O)F. Mahomet, † Mach-, medL. Ma(c)hometus — Arab. Muhammad (‘highly praised’, f. hamida praise), now repr. by Mohammed, Muhammad founder of the religion of Islam.
So Mahometan XVI. — medL. Mahometānus, etc. Mahound, later form (XVI) of † Mah(o)un (XIII). — OF. Mahun, -um, shortening of Mahomet.