howadji

noun

1. A traveller or merchant from the Middle East

   archaic

   "O fisherman, have you any fish?" And he held up a string of them and made answer: "O Howadji, I have."

Where it comes from

From Arabic خَوَاجَا (ḵawājā, “gentleman”), from Classical Persian خواجه (xwāja, “gentleman”). The term came to be applied to merchants because they were formerly the chief travellers. Doublet of hodja.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry howadji (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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