Originally Posted by LongVehicle
….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….
You have a cool hobby, LongVehicle :) (I also study languages - although, not Persian, Turkish or Arabic).
I understand exactly what you mean about language changing, especially over great periods of time. Even in our relatively young English, some words have changed significantly over time - even common words which, when used during Shakespeare’s time, have different meanings today.
But the whole “jelq” tale is a little different. In most of the versions I’ve seen, “jelq” is never described as some archaic, long-lost term; rather, it’s described as a “long-kept secret” of those various regions. In other words, they never assert that the word fell into disuse, but quite the opposite: “long-kept secret”.
The stories seem to imply that this technique was passed down, generationally, from fathers unto sons, and so on and so forth. If that were indeed the case, why don’t the modern day inhabitants of those regions understand the reputed “secrets”?
BTW, I once read (in a skeptical medical column) that the word “jelq” was actually coined by some college students, as a part of a prank/hoax, some 40 years ago or so [they said it was a corruption of “jack,” which was a shortening of “jack off” - i.e., masturbate].
That’s probably more accurate. The word eventually found its way into urban mythology, and was subsequently morphed into the more exotic versions for use by the P.T. Barnums of PE.
