harmattan

English

Etymology

From Twi Akan haramata or a related word (whence also Spanish harmatán). The ultimate origin is supposed by some to be an Arabic word, but which one is uncertain; حَرَام (ḥarām, “accursed thing”) has been suggested.

Noun

harmattan (plural harmattans)

1. A dry and dusty wind which blows from the Sahara over the Atlantic coast of West Africa in December, January and February, being a hot wind in some areas and a cold wind in others.
   • 1900, Joshua Slocum, Sailing Alone Around the World:

     Storm-clouds stretched their arms across the sky; from the east, to all appearances, might come a fierce harmattan, or from the south might come the fierce hurricane.

   • 1958, Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, New York: Astor-Honor, published 1959, page 1:

     That was many years ago, twenty years or more, and during this time Okonkwo's fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan.

2. A season which spans the period in which the harmattan wind blows.

References

• Concise Oxford Dictionary, 5th Edition, 1975 revision
• “harmattan”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Alexander Knox, in The Climate of the Continent of Africa, explains that "the Harmattan [...] is a hot wind in some localities and a cold wind in others, according to circumstances." This is why some sources, both old and modern, call it a hot wind, while others call it a cold one.

French

Noun

harmattan m (plural harmattans)

1. harmattan

Further reading

• “harmattan”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Noun

harmattan m (invariable)

1. harmattan