Named after Arab decorative tradition — European artists encountered flowing, non-figurative Islamic patterns and named a style.
An ornamental design consisting of intertwined flowing lines, originally derived from Islamic art; a ballet position in which one leg is raised behind and both arms are extended; a musical passage with fanciful ornamentation.
From French 'arabesque,' from Italian 'arabesco' (in the Arabic style), from 'arabo' (Arab, Arabic), from Latin 'Arabus,' from Greek 'Araps' (Ἄραψ), from Arabic 'ʿarab' (عرب), the self-designation of the Arab peoples, of uncertain ultimate origin — possibly meaning 'nomad' or 'desert dweller.' The decorative sense arose because European observers associated the flowing, non-figurative ornamental patterns of Islamic art with Arab culture generally. Key roots: ʿarab (عرب) (Arabic
The arabesque design style that European artists admired and named after Arabs actually has roots in both Islamic and Byzantine art traditions. Islamic artists developed it partly because many Islamic scholars discouraged figurative art (depicting humans or animals), channeling artistic energy into abstract geometric and vegetal patterns that reached extraordinary complexity and mathematical sophistication.