Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A member of a traditionally Muslim people of mixed Berber and Arab ancestry, now living chiefly in northwest Africa.
  • noun One of the Muslims who invaded Spain in the 8th century and established a civilization in Andalusia that lasted until the late 15th century.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun historical A member of an ancient Berber people from Numidia.
  • noun historical A member of an Islamic people of Arab or Berber origin ruling Spain and parts of North Africa from the 8th to the 15th centuries.
  • noun archaic A Muslim or a person from the Middle East or Africa.
  • noun dated A person of mixed Arab and Berber ancestry inhabiting the Mediterranean coastline of northwest Africa.
  • noun A person of an ethnic group speaking the Hassaniya language, mainly inhabiting Western Sahara, Mauritania, and parts of neighbouring countries (Morocco, Mali, Senegal etc.).

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English More, from Old French, from Medieval Latin Mōrus, from Latin Maurus, Mauritanian, from Greek Mauros.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French More, Maure; from the Latin Maurus, a Moor, meaning a Mauritanian, an inhabitant of Mauritania. Webster 1913 also says: Ancient Greek Μαῦρος; confer μαῦρος black, dark. Confer {Morris} a dance, {Morocco}. Morris dance is from the Middle English moreys daunce, “Moorish dance”. The Moroccan connection is doubtful, as Morocco is from Marrakech, itself from the Berber murt 'n akush, “the country of God”.

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