Letters from Egypt
==================

* A. Mark Clarfield

Various sources, including the BBC's weather Web site,1 the *Encyclopedia Britannica*2 and 2 dictionaries (one in English3 and the other a standard Arab–English work4) all attribute the origin of the word “khamsin” to the Arabic term for “fifty.” This approximates the number of days these blasted winds torture those of us who live in the Middle East.

Beyond these citations, however, there is an even stronger refutation of the explanation offered by the Egyptologists that Longo and his coauthor consulted, that the word is derived from the Arabic for “five” (supposedly referring to the fifth month, May, “when the storms are at their worst”). Unlike the Jewish and secular calendars, the Muslim calendar is based on the lunar cycle and thus has no standard fifth month (or any numeric month, for that matter) occurring in the same season of each year. As such, Islam's holy days take place in different seasons each year, and the fifth month rotates around the Gregorian calendar.

I would like to repeat (as I mentioned in my original review5) that this small error can hardly be said to detract significantly from this excellent book, which I once again highly recommend to readers of *CMAJ*.

**A. Mark Clarfield** Ben Gurion University of the Negev Beersheva, Israel

## References

1.  1. Giles B. The khamsin. In: *Weather A–Z* [on-line]. London (UK): BBC. Available: [www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/az/alphabet32.shtml](http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/az/alphabet32.shtml) (accessed 2004 Apr 25).
    
    

2.  2. Khamsin. In: *Encyclopaedia Britannica* [online]. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. Available: [www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=46320](http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=46320) (accessed 2004 Apr 25). 
    
    

3.  3. *Funk & Wagnall's Canadian college dictionary*. Markham (ON): Fitzhenry and Whiteside; 1989. p. 742.
    
    

4.  4. Wehr H. *Dictionary of modern written Arabic*. Ithaca (NY): Cornell University Press; 1961. p. 262.
    
    

5.  5. Clarfield AM. Osler on the Nile [book review]. CMAJ 2004;170(5):833.
    
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