The phrase first appears in Antoine Galland's French translation of One Thousand and One Nights (1704–1717) as Sésame, ouvre-toi (English, "Sesame, open yourself").[1] In the story, Ali Baba overhears one of the 40 thieves saying "open sesame". His brother later cannot remember the phrase, and confuses it with the names of grains other than sesame, becoming trapped in the magic cave.
Galland's phrase has been variously translated from the French into English as "Sesame, open",[2] "Open, sesame" and "Open, O sesame".[3][failed verification] "Open sesame" is the conventional arrangement, however.
Sesame seeds grow in a seed pod that splits open when it reaches maturity,[4] and the phrase possibly alludes to unlocking of treasures.[5] Babylonian magic practices used sesame oil.[6] But it is not certain that the word "sesame" actually refers to the sesame plant or seed.[7] Sesame may be a reduplication of the Hebrewšem 'name', i.e., God, or a kabbalistic word representing the Talmudicšem-šāmayīm ("shem-shamayim"), 'name of heaven'.[8]
Classification
Open sesame has been classified by Stith Thompson as motif element D1552.2, "Mountain opens to magic formula".[9]
^Felix Ernst Peiser in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung (1902), as reported in Haupt.
^S. Thompson, Motif-index of folk-literature : a classification of narrative elements in folktales, ballads, myths, fables, mediaeval romances, exempla, fabliaux, jest-books, and local legends", 1955-1958. [1]cf.Aarne–Thompson classification system
Bibliography
(in English) Paul Haupt, "Open Sesame" in Beiträge zur assyriologie und semitischen Sprachwissenschaft10:2, 1927, p. 165ff. Originally presented at the meeting of the American Oriental Society, Washington, April 15, 1916.