I just got an old book (second hand) called The Embroideries of North Africa by Caroline Stone, published by Longman UK in 1985. It's a really beautiful book. Looks like a few copies are available used on Amazon.
It covers embroideries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and "in the Turkish manner." NOT dance costumes per se (so I didn't put this thread under costumes), no pictures of two-piece bedlah or anything remotely like them. But it has gorgeous pictures of traditional embroideries!
One of the things that jumped out at me is the etymology of the word "sequin." From 1617 it's the name of an Italian or Turkish coin, and the word comes from the Arabic "sikkah" which means "minting die." However she says she has found mention of sequin embroidery dating from the 13th century in England, which surprised me. However she says what we now call sequins were probably called "spangles" until about 100 years ago--which given that this was published 1985 would mean 1885.
Still, there aren't that many words in English with Arabic roots so I was charmed that this is one.
Cathy
It covers embroideries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and "in the Turkish manner." NOT dance costumes per se (so I didn't put this thread under costumes), no pictures of two-piece bedlah or anything remotely like them. But it has gorgeous pictures of traditional embroideries!
One of the things that jumped out at me is the etymology of the word "sequin." From 1617 it's the name of an Italian or Turkish coin, and the word comes from the Arabic "sikkah" which means "minting die." However she says she has found mention of sequin embroidery dating from the 13th century in England, which surprised me. However she says what we now call sequins were probably called "spangles" until about 100 years ago--which given that this was published 1985 would mean 1885.
Still, there aren't that many words in English with Arabic roots so I was charmed that this is one.
Cathy