[1625.—"They will not haue them iudged by any Custome, and they are content that their Xeque doe determine them as he list."—Purchas, Pilgrimage, ii. 1146.
1727.—"... but if it was so, that he (Abraham) was their Sheek, as they alledge, they neither follow him in Morals or Religion."—A. Hamilton, ed. 1744, i. 37.
[1835.—"Some parents employ a sheykh or fikee to teach their boys at home."—Lane, Mod. Egypt., ed. 1871, i. 77.]
SHERBET, s. Though this word is used in India by natives in its native (Arab. and Pers.) form sharbat,[[245]] 'draught,' it is not a word now specially in Anglo-Indian use. The Arabic seems to have entered Europe by several different doors. Thus in Italian and French we have sorbetto and sorbet, which probably came direct from the Levantine or Turkish form shurbat or shorbat; in Sp. and Port. we have xarabe, axarabe (ash-sharāb, the standard Ar. sharāb, 'wine or any beverage'), and xarope, and from these forms probably Ital. sciroppo, siroppo, with old French ysserop and mod. French sirop; also English syrup, and more directly from the Spanish, shrub. Mod. Span. again gets, by reflection from French or Italian, sorbete and sîrop (see Dozy, 17, and Marcel Devic, s.v. sirop). Our sherbet looks as if it had been imported direct from the Levant. The form shrāb is applied in India to all wines and spirits and prepared drinks, e.g. Port-shraub, Sherry-shraub, [Lall-shraub], Brandy-shraub, Beer-shraub.
c. 1334.—"... They bring cups of gold, silver, and glass, filled with sugar-candy-water; i.e. syrup diluted with water. They call this beverage sherbet" (ash-shurbat).—Ibn Batuta, iii. 124.
1554.—"... potio est gratissima praesertim ubi multa nive, quae Constantinopoli nullo tempore deficit, fuerit refirgerata, Arab Sorbet vocant, hoc est, potionem Arabicam."—Busbeq. Ep. i. p. 92.
1578.—"The physicians of the same country use this xarave (of tamarinds) in bilious and ardent fevers."—Acosta, 67.
c. 1580.—"Et saccharo potum jucundissimum parant quem Sarbet vocant."—Prosper Alpinus, Pt. i. p. 70.
1611.—"In Persia there is much good wine of grapes which is called Xaràb in the language of the country."—Teixeira, i. 16.
c. 1630.—"Their liquor may perhaps better delight you; 'tis faire water, sugar, rose-water, and juyce of Lemons mixt, call'd Sherbets or Zerbets, wholsome and potable."—Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1638, p. 241.