

In addition, mothers would apply kohl to their infants' eyes soon after birth. Kohl has also been used in Yemen as a cosmetic for a long time. This form of using kohl on the face originated from the Arabian Peninsula, and was introduced in the seventh century in North Africa. Originally the line from the bottom lip to the chin showed whether a woman was married or not. A vertical line is drawn from the bottom lip to the chin and along the bridge of the nose. īerber and Semitic-speaking women in North Africa and the Middle East, respectively, also apply kohl to their faces.
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Īdditionally, the pioneering Muslim scholar ibn Abi Shaybah described in a legal compilation how to apply kohl to the eye, as narrated by earlier authorities. Cosmetic ingredients such as cinnamon bark and other spice components – used for fragrances – alongside copper kohl sticks were exported from Tamraparni (ancient Sri Lanka) towns Pomparippu and Kadiramalai-Kandarodai to ancient Egypt. The frankincense itself had originally been obtained during an expedition to the ancient Land of Punt in this New Kingdom dynasty ( c. This is the first recorded use of the resin. The 18th Dynasty female Pharaoh Hatshepsut would also grind charred frankincense into kohl eyeliner. Although found locally, both black galena and green malachite were also imported from nearby regions in Western Asia, Coptos, and the Land of Punt. Ancient graves from the pre-historic Tasian culture point to the early application of galena in Egypt, a custom stretching from as old as the Badarian culture through to Greco-Roman era. Upper eyelids were painted black and lower ones were colored green, as depicted in ancient texts that describe the use of both black galena and green malachite.


Galena eye paint (later termed Kohl in Arabic from the Akkadian word for the cosmetic) was widely applied in Ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptian women wearing kohl, from a tomb mural in Thebes (1420–1375 BCE) There was also a belief that darkening around the eyes would protect one from the harsh rays of the sun. 3100 BCE) by Egyptians of all social classes, originally as protection against eye ailments. Kohl has been worn traditionally since the Naqada III era (c. Middle East and North Africa An 18th Dynasty Ancient Egyptian kohl container inscribed for Queen Tiye (1410–1372 BCE) In Hausa, it is also known as tozali and kwalli. The Greek and Latin terms for antimony, stibium, στίβι, στίμμι, were borrowed from the Egyptian name sdm. In some South Asian languages, the term kājal or kajol is used. The Persian word for kohl is سرمه sormeh, from Azerbaijani sürmə "drawing along", which has led to Bengali and Urdu surma ( সুর্মা, سرمہ) as well as Russian сурьма. The English word alcohol is a loan of the Arabic word (via Middle Latin and French originally in the sense "powder of antimony", the modern meaning is from the 18th century). Both words derived from Akkadian 𒎎𒋆𒁉𒍣𒁕 guẖlu(m) meaning stibnite. The Arabic word cognates with Syriac-Aramaic word כוחלא/ ܟܘܚܠܐ kuḥla. Transliteration variants of Arabic dialectal pronunciation include kohl or kuhl. The Arabic name كحل kuḥl formed the Arabic root k-ḥ-l, "to apply kohl". Further information: Antimony § Etymology Ancient kohl cosmetic tube from western Iran, dated 800–500 BCE
