The Arabic term for “desert-dweller” (badawī) is a derivation from the root b-d-w. Arabic lexicographers use the term badw/badawī as an antonym for “sedentary people” (ḥāḍir), and the expression “people became Bedouin” (badā l-qawm badwan) means that they went out to the desert (Ibn Sīda in Lisān al-ʿArab, xiv, 67). The cognate term bādiya refers to the sand-desert as opposed to the settled lands. The terms badw, badawī or the active participle bādī signify one who pursues a certain way of life, i.e. people of the desert or nomads as distinct from settled people. Bādī is used twice in th…