[drag-uh-muh
n] 
| (in the Near East) a professional interpreter. |
[drag-uh-man-ik] , drag⋅o⋅man⋅ish, adjective | drag·o·man (drāg'ə-mən) n. pl. drag·o·mans or drag·o·men An interpreter or guide in countries where Arabic, Turkish, or Persian is spoken. [Middle English dragman, from Old French drugeman, from Medieval Latin dragumannus, from Medieval Greek dragoumanos, from Arabic tarjumān, from Aramaic targəmānā, from Akkadian targumannu, interpreter; see rgm in Semitic roots.] |
dragoman
official interpreter in countries where Arabic, Turkish, and Persian are spoken. Originally the term applied to any intermediary between Europeans and Middle Easterners, whether as a hotel tout or as a traveller's guide, but there developed the official dragomans of foreign ministries and embassies, whose functions at one time included the conduct of important political negotiations. In the latter sense the dragoman has, essentially, ceased to exist, especially since the passing of the Ottoman Empire, although in the latter part of the 20th century many embassies in the Arab world still employed an interpreter-courier known as a kavass (Turkish kavas; Arabic qawwas), used largely for ceremonial purposes.
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