caravanserai

Etymology

Borrowed: * from Middle French carvansera, carvassera (modern French caravansérail, carauanserrail (obsolete), caravansara (obsolete)); or * directly from its etymon Ottoman Turkish كاروانسرای (kervansaray), from Old Anatolian Turkish [script needed] (kārevān-serā) (modern Turkish kervansaray); or * directly from its etymon Persian کاروانسرای (kârvânserây), from کاروان (kârvân, “caravan; convoy”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“army”)) + سرای (sarây, “courtyard, hall; dwelling, house; inn; mansion, palace”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terh₂- (“to cross over; to pass through; to overcome”). cognates * Dutch karavanserai, carewansera (obsolete) * German Karawanserei, Caravansera (obsolete) * Italian caravanserraglio, carvasarà (obsolete), carvanserà (obsolete) * Portuguese caravançará, caravançarai * Spanish caravasar

noun

1. (chiefly historical) A roadside inn, usually having a central courtyard where caravans (see sense 3) can rest, providing accommodation for travellers along trade routes in Asia and North Africa.
   Eight days later, after leaving the desert and riding through neatly tended villages and snow-capped mountain scenery, he arrived there, hiring himself a room in a caravanserai near the bazaar. 1990, Peter Hopkirk, “Rehearsal for the Great Game”, in The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia, London: John Murray, published 1991, page 52
   [page 80] Research over the last thirty-five years suggests that further research is likely to increase the number of known caravanserais in a good state of preservation. Unfortunately the majority of the caravanserais either had no founding inscription or it has since disappeared, and of the ones that do exist not all mention the type of building. […] [page 81] Caravanserais served caravans, but they also had a multitude of other functions. It is generally agreed that they continued the function of the ribats in Transoxania, and therefore it is taken for granted that they had military uses. 1997, Ayṣil Tükel Yavuz, “The Concepts that Shape Anatolian Seljuq Caravanserais”, in Gülru Necipoğlu, editor, Muqarnas XIV: An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World, volume XIV, Leiden: E[vert] J[an] Brill, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 80 and 81
2. (by extension) A place resembling a caravanserai (sense 1) as being a place for resting temporarily, or a meeting place (especially one that is busy, or where people of different cultures encounter each other).
   Casting my fortunes at Mrs. Thompson's, I soon became initiated into the etiquette and usage of that polite caravansary; and I now write of that era of two-pronged forks, and when "saveall" was the choicest dish, and the observances at the table not altogether Chesterfieldian. 1891, George W[ashington] Cullum, “Period from July 31, 1812, to July 28, 1817. Brevet Brig.-General Joseph G[ardner] Swift, Superintendent.”, in Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.[…], 3rd edition, volume III (Nos. 2001 to 3384), Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company[…], →OCLC, page 617
   Only in Paris, a cosmopolitan caravansary in itself, did Americans and other foreigners fall nicely into the picture and spoil nothing in the charm of the place. 1952 May, George Santayana, “I Like to Be a Stranger”, in Edward Augustus Weeks, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-02-16, section 2
3. (by extension) Synonym of caravan (“a convoy of travellers, their cargo and vehicles, and pack animals”)
4. (by extension, archaic) A hostelry, an inn; also (humorous), an (upscale) hotel.
   By the bye it is as well to mention, for the benefit of the inexperienced, that there are no Inns in Ireland; all are hotels, from the lowest road cabin to the splendid caravanserai, with all its appurtenances of luxury and ease. 1838, “a Pedestrian” [pseudonym], “Cork”, in A Guide to the Lakes of Killarney and the South of Ireland, London: J. Onwhyn,[…], →OCLC, page 56