ABSTRACT
T HE word" Bedou," plural Bedouin, is derived from anold classical Arabic word meaning "original," hence the basic meaning of the term is "original" or "aboriginal." The term is however used, like the word "Arab," to describe any nomadic desert-dwellers, in contradistinction to the settled Fellaheen of the cultivated Nile Valley. Most of the Bedouin proudly describe themselves as Arabs, and although many Bedouin tribes rightly claim Arabian ancestry, some are undoubtedly of the aboriginal blood that their name implies.
