“serai” (Persian: sarāī) is missing from the database.
(From my own research, which may or may not be faulty, I am lead to believe there is an actual history of the item in question, and thought it would be useful to include it if so.)
From Webster’s online dictionary:
“Etymology: Turkish & Persian; Turkish saray mansion, palace, from Persian sarāī mansion, inn
First Known Use: 1609, in the meaning defined at [sense 1]”
(Sense 1 being “caravansary”)
“The name was formed from the word caravan and the Persian word sarāī, meaning “palace” or “inn.” Caravansary can also be spelled caravanserai, and the word serai is used as a synonym for it.”
There seems to be at least one point at odds here, in that if there was a Persian word sarāī, which when combined with the word caravan (or “karwan” as Etymonline suggests) produces the word in question, it may stand to reason that there must be some history behind sarāī itself.
Seems “nitpicky” I guess.
However, I offer this insubstantial reassurance that it is not from a desire to nitpick, only from a moderate passion for the history of “things.”
