Emirates

This is an Arabic word. It comes from “emir,” which refers to any person holding authority, be it a monarch or an officeholder.

Technically, an “emirate” means “a land governed by an emir.” However, the concept of “emir” has become a little vague over the years, given that most Arab lands have moved towards more formal government structures.

The United Arab Emirates is the only country which uses the word in its title. There are seven “emirates” in the country, each having its own leader.

Emirates is also the name of an airline based in Abu Dhabi, Dubai. It has a wide-ranging marketing campaign, resulting in the word being used on many sports facilities and events.

Why I Looked It Up

I was reading an article about expats living in Dubai. When they were asked what the worst part of it was, I remember they said, “Definitely the emirates.”

From context, it seemed they were referring to the extended members of the royal family who operated with impunity and did whatever they wanted (royal families in the Middle East can number into the tens of thousands of descendants, from direct to distant).

However, in researching this, “emirate” refers to a country/region, not a person. A human in the royal family would an emir. Maybe I remembered this wrong?