gyassa

English

Noun

gyassa (plural gyassas or gyassi)

1. A sail trading vessel of the upper Nile, with one mast and a very large lateen sail on a yard twice as long as the mast and as long as, or longer than, the vessel itself.
   • 1898, George Warrington Steevens, With Kitchener to Khartum, page 236:

     What was worse, the gyassa , laden with stores and spare kits, belonging to an Egyptian battalion which was just about to start forward, was blown clean over, and everything shot into the river.

   • 1899, Winston Churchill, Francis William Rhodes, The River War, page 242:

     Meanwhile the sunken gyassa was kept at the surface by the tackle fastened on to our mast.

   • 1900 February 22, “Fitzgerald's Exploorations in the Andes”, in The Nation, volume 70, number 1808, page 152:

     The characteristic sailing craft of Bermuda, Norway, Denmark, Holland, and other European countries and waters are sketched and described, including the Venetian fishing-boats, with their richly colored sails; the rich dahabeahs and gyassi, with their graceful sails.

   • 1931, The South and East African Year Book & Guide, page 838:

     The most convenient way in most cases is to charter a special steamer from the Sudan Government, but those wishing to be quite independent can buy a nuggar or sailing gyassa which can sail up stream on the prevailing wind but must be towed back.