Editing Siddi (section)

== Etymology ==
There are conflicting hypotheses on the origin of the name ''Siddi''. One theory is that the word derives from ''sahibi'', an [[Arabic]] term of respect in North Africa, similar to the word ''sahib'' in modern India and Pakistan.<ref name="Albinia2012" /> A second theory is that the term ''Siddi'' is derived from the title borne by the captains of the Arab vessels that first brought Siddi settlers to India; these captains were known as ''[[Sayyid]]''.<ref name="Prashad">{{Citation | title=Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting: Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity | author=Vijay Prashad | year=2002 | publisher=Beacon Press | isbn=978-0-8070-5011-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xiO6zUS9gigC | quote=''...since the captains of the African and Arab vessels bore the title Sidi (from Sayyid, or the lineage of Muhammad), the African settlers on the Indian mainland came to be called Siddis...''}}</ref> A different name occasionally used for the Siddi is the term "Habshi". While originally used to refer specifically to the [[Habesha peoples]], [[Ethio-Semitic]]-speakers from [[Abyssinia]], the term later became more broadly used to refer to Africans of any ethnicity, but not necessarily referring to the Siddi specifically.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ḥabshī {{!}} African and Abyssinian enslaved persons {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Habshi |access-date=2023-06-11 |website=www.britannica.com}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Péquignot |first=Sofia |title=Siddi (of Karnataka) |date=2021-09-16 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-encyclopedia-of-the-religions-of-the-indigenous-people-of-south-asia-online/*-COM_033469 |encyclopedia=Brill's Encyclopedia of the Religions of the Indigenous People of South Asia Online |access-date=2023-06-11 |publisher=Brill}}</ref>

Siddis are also sometimes referred to as Afro-Indians.<ref name="mazrui1986">{{Citation | title=The Africans: a reader | author=Ali Al'Amin Mazrui, Toby Kleban Levine | year=1986 | publisher=Praeger | isbn=978-0-03-006209-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SpQEAQAAIAAJ | quote=''...continue to exist in three main communities. These Afro-Indians, known as 'Siddis' ...''}}</ref><ref name="harris1971">{{Citation | title=The African presence in Asia: consequences of the East African slave trade | author=Joseph E. Harris | year=1971 | publisher=Northwestern University Press | isbn=978-0-8101-0348-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l8G4AAAAIAAJ | quote=''In fact, it is frequently said that Afro-Indians in western Gujarat are descendants of escaped slaves....''}}</ref><ref name="hamilton2007">{{Citation | title=Routes of Passage: Rethinking the African Diaspora | author=Ruth Simms Hamilton | year=2007 | publisher=Michigan State University Press | isbn=978-0-87013-632-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bL2RAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> Siddis were referred to as ''[[Zanj]]i'' by Arabs; in China, various [[transcription into Chinese characters|transcriptions]] of this Arabic word were used, including ''Xinji'' (辛吉) and ''Jinzhi'' (津芝).<ref name="David Brion Davis 2006 p.12">David Brion Davis, ''Challenging the Boundaries of Slavery'' (Harvard University Press, 2006), p. 12.</ref><ref>''Ci Hai'' 7(1): [https://books.google.com/books?id=PqcGAQAAIAAJ&q=%E8%BE%9B%E5%90%89%E8%B5%B7%E4%B9%89 125.]</ref><ref name="Roland Oliver 1975 p.192">Roland Oliver, ''Africa in the Iron Age: c.500 BC-1400 AD'', (Cambridge University Press, 1975), p. 192.</ref><ref name="F.R.C. Bagley 1997 p.174">F. R. C. Bagley et al., ''The Last Great Muslim Empires'', (Brill: 1997), p. 174.</ref>