"I have watched your lateened feluccas..."

-Adventure

la·teen.

[ləˈtēn, laˈtēn]

NOUN

lateens (plural noun) · lateen sail (noun) · lateen sails (plural noun)

a triangular sail on a long yard at an angle of 45° to the mast.

•a ship rigged with a lateen sail.

ORIGIN

mid 16th cent.: from French (voile) Latine ‘Latin (sail),’ so named because it was common in the Mediterranean.

This is the common sail on the dhow, the caravel and later the rear-most mizzen mast of the galleon. This sail permits tacking into the wind and its adoption by the Portuguese facilitated navigation around Africa to the Indian Ocean.

fe·luc·ca.

[fəˈlo͞okə]

NOUN

feluccas (plural noun)

a small vessel propelled by oars or lateen sails or both, used on the Nile and formerly more widely in the Mediterranean region.

ORIGIN

early 17th cent.: from Italian feluc(c)a, probably from obsolete Spanish faluca, from Arabic fulk ‘ship,’ probably from Greek epholkion ‘(towed) boat.’