A hookah is a single or multi-stemmed (often glass-based) water pipe for smoking. Originating in India, it has gained popularity, especially in the Arab World. A hookah operates by water filtration and indirect heat. It can be used for smoking herbal fruits.
Depending on locality and supply, hookahs may be referred to by many names, often of Arabic, Indian, Turkic, or Persian origin. Narghilè is the name most commonly used in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Albania, Bosnia, Greece, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bulgaria, although the initial "n" is often dropped in Arabic pronunciation. Narghilè derives from the Persian word nārgil , meaning coconut, and in turn from the Sanskrit nārikela , suggesting that early hookahs were hewn from coconut shells.
Shisha , from the Persian word shīshe , meaning glass, is the common term for the hookah in Egypt and the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf (including Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia), and in Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia, Somalia and Yemen.
In Iran, hookah is called ghalyūn , ghālyūn , or ghalyān . In India and Pakistan the name most similar to the English hookah is used: huqqa . The terms "hubble-bubble" and "hubbly-bubbly" are also used.
The commonness of the Indian word "hookah" in English is a result of the British Raj, the British dominion of India (1858–1947), when large numbers of expatriate Britons first sampled the water-pipe. William Hickey, shortly after arriving in Kolkata, India, in 1775, wrote in his Memoirs:
“ The most highly-dressed and splendid hookah was prepared for me. I tried it, but did not like it. As after several trials I still found it disagreeable, I with much gravity requested to know whether it was indispensably necessary that I should become a smoker, which was answered with equal gravity, "Undoubtedly it is, for you might as well be out of the world as out of the fashion. Here everybody uses a hookah, and it is impossible to get on without" [... I] have frequently heard men declare they would much rather be deprived of their nightly sex than their hookah.
From Wikipedia..
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