Mansoojat Foundation

Museum of Saudi Arabian Costume online

Glossary of terms (clothing, accessories, names of objects and stitches)

Aba (عباءة)
Cloak
Aba Bidi
Men's cloak made of sheep's wool
Adhyah (عظية)
Jazan dress worn second day after wedding
Aghabani (اغبانى)
Kind of machine embroidery
Akakeez (عكاكيز)
Fabric covered tubes embroidered with pearls, part of the Madinah bridal headdress
Bayrum (بيرم)
Hudheyl Tribe, women's square shaped headdress
Bukhnuq (بخنق)
Bani Sa'ad tribe, Harb tribe, and Rashaidah tribe, a woman's headdress that has an opening for the head and the length of the rest of the fabric hangs in the back
Burqu’ (برقع)
Face mask
Daqlah (دقلة)
(Hijaz) Men’s overcoat, tailored, straight cut with Chinese collar and six buttons.
Worn: formal occasion white, worn under the jubbah and depending on the fashion of the day ¾ length or long.
(Najd) Like an overcoat criss cross cut with side tie.
Foutah (فوطة)
Sarong
Ghutrah / sumadah (غتره صماده)
Square cloth headdress worn by men could be referred to as 'kuffiyeh' in the northern regions
Hat’tah (حطه)
Rashaidah Tribe, square shaped women's headdress
Jazan region, Jabal Fifa hat for men and women
Iqal (عقال)
Rope like head-band worn by men and women to hold headdress
Iqal women
(Harb, Sulaym some Taif tribes) Rope like band used to hold headdress
Jubbah (جبه)
(Hail) Overcoat (open and criss-cross cut)
(Hijaz) Straight open overcoat with no buttons can be any colour (beige, grey, brown and for the evening dark colours)
Jubbah Aghawat (اغوات)
Jubbah for eunuchs
Kanteel (كنتيل)
Embroidery with gold or silver thread
Khoray’aan (خريان)
Small coloured glass beads
Koofiah (كوفييه)
Cap for men to wear either alone or under other headdress
Madaarij (مدارج)
Silver tubes part of Madinah bridal headdress
Maqtoo’ (مقطوع)
(Najd) men’s thobe with large triangular sleeves
Marbat (مربط)
Rashaidah Tribe, women's headdress
Massar (مصر)
Sulaym Tribe, women's headdress
Massar Mutallal (مبصر متلل)
Jizan region, a triangular women's headdress embroidered in gold thread
Mataweeh (مطاويح)
Bani Sa'ad Tribe, women's headdress
Men’s Aba
Cloak
Meyl fabric (ميل)
Jazan Chiffon fabric embroidered with gold thread in a bird / peacock motif. Used to come from Aden but now comes from India and Pakistan
Mijaan (ميجان)
Bani Sa'ad Tribe, women's headdress
Milayah (ملايه)
(Hijaz) outdoor wrap of two fabric widths sewn together to form a large square. Worn over the head to envelope the body for women to go out. Imported from either India or Indonesia and could be silk or cotton. It stopped being in use around the 1950’s
Misfa’ (مسفع)
Rectangular shaped headdress for women
Muarraq (معرق)
Hijaz men's undershirt
Mubaqar (مبقر)
Thaqeef Tribe, women's thobe from Al-Shafa area
Mudawarah (مدوره)
Hijaz, Western Region, women's square gauze headdress
Murowdin Thobe
(Najd) men’s thobe with triangular long sleeves
Musaddah (مسدح)
Hudheyl woman’s thobe with overall tie-dye design
Naoorah (نا عو ره)
Name of flowery design on hand woven traditional Syrian textile
Ref. Mr. Hisham Nokta, Souk el Khayattin, Damascus 2004
Qamees (قميص)
Jizan region tulle tunic for elder women to wear over the dress
Qarqoosh (قرقوش)
Women's headdress, sits like a hat but has a train in the back that reaches the shoulders. It is used by the women of the Harb Tribe and the Taif region Tribes.
Qiladah (قلادة)
Jazan women’s necklace
Qina’a (قناع)
Harb tribe, large rectangular women's headdress
Qubqaab (قبقاب)
Slipper usually a flat surface elevated on two platforms used for the bathroom. Could be wood or silver
Ridayah (رداية)
Woman’s headdress
Shambar (شمبر)
Hijaz region, triangular piece of fabric or crochet part of women's headdress
Shayah (شايه)
Hijaz men’s coat with criss cross tie worn over the thobe and under the Jubbah. The shayah can be white, striped, or printed and worn optionally with a cummerbund
Sidriyah
Mens vest to wear over thobe
Underwear for women
Tafashah (طفشة)
Asir region large straw hat for men and women
Tal’li (تلي)
Embroidery with flattened gold or silver thread
Thobe
Robe for men, women or children
Toor (تور)
Tulle thobe from Najd
Ukwah (عكوة)
Jazan, Jabal Fifa men’s iqal
Usabah (عصابة)
Jazan women’s triangular gold embroidered headdress
Bani Sa'ad tribe a woman's head band
Wizrah (وزرة)
Sarong men and women
Zaboon (زبون)
Name of Hijaz ladies’ dress worn under thobe

Mansoojat Bibliography

Abbul-Jabbar, Ahmad Abdullah; Aadaat wa Takaleed az-Zawaaj bilmintakah al-Garbiyyah, Publisher: Tihama.

Akbar, Abdullah; Suwar min turath Makkah al-Mukarramah fi al-Karn ar-Rabi' ashar al-Hijriy, King Fahd National Library, first edition, 2004 AD- 1425 AH.

Al-Bassaam, Laila Saleh, At-Turaath at-Taqlidiy li-Malabis an-Nisa' fi Najd, 1985.

Al-Biladiy, Aatiq bin Ghayth; Mu'jam Kaba'il al-Hijaz, Dar Makkah, second edition, 1983 AD- 1403 AH.

Al-Issa, Abbas Muhammad Zayd; Mawsu'at at-Turath ash-Sha'biy fi al-Mamlakah al-Arabiyyah as-Su'udiyyah, Ministry of Education, Antiquities and Museums Agency, 1998 AD- 1419 AH.

Al-Qalqashandi, Abi Abbaas Ahmad bin Ali; Nihayat al-arab Fi Ma’rifat Ansaab al- Arab, edited by: Ibraaheem al-Abyaary. Second edtition, Beirut: Dar al-Kitaab al-Lubnaany).

Armerding, Paul L.; Doctors for the Kingdom: The Work of the American Mission Hospitals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 1913- 1955, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Ash-Shareefiy, Ibrahim Jar Allah bin Dakhnah; Al-Mawsu'a ath-thahabiyyah fi ansaab qaba'il wa Usar al-Jazeerah al-Arabiyyah, 1998 AD -1419 AH vol 3 p1057.

Balfour-Paul, Jennifer; Indigo, British Museum Press, 1998.

Baker, Patricia; Dissertation, SOAS.

Baker, Patricia; Islamic Textiles, British Museum Press, 1995.

Barber, Elizabeth Wayland; Women’s Work: the First 20,000 Years, W. W. Norton & Company; New York, London, 1994.

Blunt, Lady Anne; A Pilgrimage to Nejd, the Cradle of the Arab Race, in Two Volumes Vol.1 Second Edition Jon Murray, Albermarle Street 1881 London.

Burckhardt, John Lewis; Travels In Arabia; Comprehending An Account Of Those Territories In Hedjaz Which The Mohammedans Regard As Sacred, Published By Authority of The Association For Promoting The Discovery Of The Interior Of Africa Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street, 1829.

Burton, Sir Richard; The Memorial Edition of the Works of Captain Sir Richard Burton, London: Tylston and Edwards, 1893-1894.

Diab, Muhammad Sadek; Jeddah:at-Tareekh wa al-Hayat al Ijtima'iyyah, King Fahd National library.

Doughty, Charles M Doughty; Arabia Deserta, Newly Edited and Excerpted By H. L. MacRitchie with an Introduction by T.E. Lawrence Bloomsbury Publications.

El-Hage, Badr; Saudi Arabia Caught in Time 1861 – 1939, Garnet Publishing.

Facey, William; and Grant, Gillian; Saudi Arabia by the First Photographers, Stacey International, London.

Feda, Leyla; Al-Malaabis at-Taqlidiyyah lilnisa' fi Makkah al-Mukarramah: asaalibuha wa tatrizuha, a field study; 1413 AH –1993 AD.

Ibn Junaydil, Sa’d Abdullah; Mu'jam at-Turath: al-Libaas, King Fahd National Library, first edition, 1425 AH.

Kably, Waheeb Ahmad Fadel; Al-Hirafiyyoon fi Madinat Jeddah fi al-Qarn ar-Rabi' Ashar al-Hijriy, third edition, 2004 AD- 1425 AH.

Kahhalah, Omar Rida; Mu’jam Qaba’il al-Arab al-qadimah wa al-Hadeethah, 8th edition 1997 AD-1418 AH.

Kazzaz, Hasan Abdul-Hayy; Ahlul-hijaz bi abakihim at-taarikhiy, King Fahd National Library.

Maghrebi, Muhammad Ali; A’laam al-Hijaz, Part One.

Maghrebi, Muhammad Ali; Malaamih al-Hayat al-Ijtimaiyyah fi al-Hijaz fi al-Qarn ar-Rabi' Ashar lilhijrah, Dar al-Ilm, 1985 AD – 1405 AH, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Mauger, Thierry; Heureux Bedouins d’Arabie, Souffles, S.A. Octobre 1987.

Mauger, Thierry; Undiscovered Asir, Stacey International & Thierry Mauger, 1993.

Palgrave, Wiliam Gifford; Narrative of a Year’s Journey Through Central and Eastern Arabia (1862-1863), Seventh Edition London Macmillan and Co. 1873.

Pesce, Angelo; Makkah A Hundred Years Ago Snouk Hurgronje’s Remarkable Albums Edited, Immel Publishing, London, 1986.

Philby, H. St. J.B.; Arabian Highlands, Published For The Middle East Institute Washington D.C. 1952 Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York.

Photographs of the Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia: North and West of the kingdom 1917 AD- 1336 AH, Exhibition organized by Public Library of King Abdul-Azeez, Muharram 1431 AH.

Stillman, Yedida Kaflon; Arab Dress a Short History: From the Dawn of Islam to Modern Times, Brill Academic Publishers, 2000.

Trabulsi, Muhammad Yussuf Muhammad; Jeddah: Hikayat Madinah, King Fahad National library, first edition, 2006 AD – 1427 AH.