Classical Arabic - English Dictionary

الزَّنْجُ and الزِّنْجُ, (AA, Ṣ, Mṣb, Ḳ,) the latter being a dial. var. of the former, (Mṣb,) both of them chaste, (TA,) [but the latter is the more common,] andالزُّنُوجُ↓ (Ṣ, Ḳ) andالمَزْنَجَةُ↓, (Ḳ,) A certain nation of the blacks; (Ṣ, Mṣb, Ḳ;) [the inhabitants of the country called by us “Zanguebar,” including the “Zingis” of Ptolemy, near the entrance of the Red Sea, and a large portion of inner Africa:] their country is beneath, and to the south of, the equinoctial line; and beyond them is [said to be] no habitation, or cultivation: [sometimes applied to the Negroes absolutely; for] some say that their country extends from the western parts of Africa nearly to Abyssinia, [comprehending the whole of Nigritia properly so called, or at least the whole of the countries of the Negroes known to the Arabs of the classical ages,] and that part of it is on the Nile of Egypt: (Mṣb:) the n. un. is زَنْجِىٌّ↓ and زِنْجِىٌّ, (AA, AʼObeyd, ISk, Ṣ, Ḳ,) like as رُومِىٌّ is of رُومٌ: (TA:) andأَزْنُجٌ↓ occurs as a broken pl., meaning the divisions and subtribes [of that nation]: so says AAF, and so in the M. (TA.)

زَنْجِىٌّ and زِنْجِىٌّ [of which the latter is the more common, A man, and a thing, of, or belonging to, or relating to, the زَنْج or زِنْج]: see the preceding paragraph.