June 10, 1997

kismet

Whence comes the word "kismet," and what is its proper use?

The word kismet means 'fate' or 'destiny', and comes from Turkish, a language underrepresented on this page. In Turkish it means 'portion' or 'lot', and is a borrowing from Persian qismat, which itself is a borrowing from Arabic qismah, akin to qasama 'to divide'.

In English, kismet is used, for all intents and purposes, as a synonym for 'fate', albeit a rather cool-sounding one. From Rudyard Kipling: "It is my Kismet. No man can escape his Kismet" (Kim, 1901). From F. Scott Fitzgerald, as a heading: " KISMET Within two weeks Amory and Rosalind were deeply and passionately in love" (This Side of Paradise, 1920).

The best-known use of the word in English may be as the title of a 1953 Broadway musical, which featured "Stranger in Paradise," among other songs.