Etymology: < classical Latin Arab-, Arabs, adjective and noun < Hellenistic Greek Ἀραβ- , Ἄραψ , adjective and noun < Arabic ʿarab (collective noun), self-designation, probably ultimately cognate with Hebrew ʿarāḇāh plain, desert, steppe. In sense B. 2 after French arabe, adjective (1616 or earlier in this sense; 1575 or earlier in Middle French in sense ‘of, relating to, or characteristic of Arabs or Arabia’; a1389 in Middle French as noun in sense ‘person of Arab descent’), which superseded earlier arabi Araby n. Compare Spanish árabe (a1250 as noun, late 14th cent. as adjective), Portuguese árabe , noun and adjective (15th cent.), Italian arabo (late 13th cent. as noun, end of the 13th cent. as adjective). Compare earlier Araby n., Araby adj., and also Arabian n., Arabian adj., Arabic n., Arabic adj.¹ Compare also A-rab n.², A-rab adj.²Earlier currency of the word is perhaps shown by the following example:lOE Canterbury Psalter lxxi. 10 Reges tharsis et insulę munera offerent reges arabum et saba dona adducent : kininges of tarsis & iglonde læc brohton kininges of arabe & feredæ giefæ togeledæþ.However, Arabe is more likely to represent a form of the place name Arabie (see Arabia n., and compare variant reading in quot. OE in the etymology section at that entry) than the otherwise unattested ethnonym.