Ansayrin.

Etymology: < Arabic al-Nuṣayrī < al the + Nuṣayrī Nusayri n.; see note below. In plural forms after Arabic al-Nuṣayriyya, collective plural (see Nusayri n.). Compare earlier Ansarian n. and its French etymon †Ansârié (which may have influenced some of the English forms), and also earlier Nusayri n.In the spoken forms of both Arabic al-Nuṣayrī and al-Nuṣayriyya , the final l of the definite article is assimilated to the initial n of the noun; moreover, the short u is silent in the colloquial pronunciation of both words. This facilitated a folk-etymological association of both the singular and the collective noun with the unrelated anṣār Ansar n., whence the English forms. There appears to be no evidence for a form *Anṣārī (or similar) in sense ‘Alawite’ in Arabic. In older Arabic texts, the Alawites are collectively always called Nuṣayriyya , whereas in more recent texts, the name of their heartland varies indiscriminately between Jabal al-Nuṣayriyya , lit. ‘mountain of the Nusayri’, and Jabal Anṣāriyya (see Ansarian n.).