Originally Posted by wadzilla
At various times over the past 8 years, I’ve searched the net (in vain) for any independent verification of those mysterious “tribes.” I’ve even asked 1 Turk & 2 Arabs I’d known well over the years about the alleged etymology of “jelq.”
Originally Posted by jarvis
I am moderately fluent in اللغة العربية المعيارية الحديثة (modern standard arabic) and as far as I know there’s no jelq in the language or any of the regional dialects I’ve encountered. There are some “PE” techniques in a few Arab cultures that are essentially the same thing, but I’m pretty confident that the word jelq has no Arabic etymology.
I’ve read a post from you, wadzilla, where you mentioned that before. As I study languages as a hobby (who knew I had a life outside PE, haha), I might add something beneficial:
Although I’m quite sure the word is neither Arabic nor Turkish, neither your (jarvis) nor wadzilla’s friends’ ideas would be able to confirm or deny it. The reason I believe its probably not from the area is because of the complete lack of archeological evidence to mention it (and it would be something mentioned - for example, the Ancient Egyptians did hang, and researchers found this interesting to note).
The reason an Arab or non-Arab Arabic speaker would not know is because, even if it was originally Arabic, first, the technique is no longer known in the region in its entirety (so the word would also have died out, if it was there in the first place). Second, and most importantly, assuming that jelqing is actually derived from an Arabic word, it would not actually have been “jelq.” It would probably hold so little a resemblance to the original word that an Arab or Arabic-speaker would not even notice.
An example of what I mean of having little resemblance is the word algebra, which comes from the Arabic word الجبر (pronounced: al-jebir). If mathematical algebra had died out in the Arabic region (as jelqing supposedly did), a normal Arab who didn’t know the word may not recognize which word it came from. The closest other Arabic word would be جبر which means forcefulness, roughly.
There are tons of English words with Arabic origins, some more recognizable to Arabic speakers than others. For example, admiral comes from the word امير البحر, which literally translates into captain or commander of the seas. Alchemy comes from كيمياء which is still used in the Arabic language, simply meaning chemistry. Magazine comes from مخازين (ask an Arabic speaker if magazine sounds Arabic to him - he wouldn’t recognize it, although the other word is used often and means storage house). Safari comes from the word سفر, which is the Arabic word for travelling. The list goes on and on…and these are just words that are CURRENTLY used in Arabic and are still unrecognizable in their English form.
The word jelq does sound fairly Arabic to me, not as Turkish or Persian. Without archeological records and knowing the sexual modesty encouraged through Islam during the time that the Arab world spread most of its ideas to the West, I doubt it was actually an Arabic technique.