What does “Reem” mean?

So you are a fan of the reality TV show The Only Way Is Essex (popularly called “TOWIE”) and curious to know what Joey Essex means when he uses the word “Reem”.

Read on.

Joining vajazzle, ohshatuuuup and jel in the Essex dictionary, we know have the word reem. Invented inside the mysterious empty void that is Joey Essex’s brain, we’re not entirely clear what the term means, but apparently it’s a phrase of endearment. It may seem idiotic right now (and it is), but trust us, you’ll all be saying it in a couple of months’ time. As Joey Essex so poetically put on his Twitter account today, “Look reem… smell reem… be reem… Reem.”

The slang usage is apparently derived from Swedish and is used to describe an incredibly sexy and physically talented individual. A “reem” is always envied and desired by others who are not able to reach “reem status”.  The Telegraph though has opted for a slightly toned down definition calling it a  term of endearment to mean ‘cool’.

Here are some popular clips

But what is the original meaning of the word “reem”?

“Reem” is used as a female name in the Arab world (for example: Reem Acra in Lebanon) and as a male name in Israel (ex:  Reem Aminoach).  As one reader pointed out it is a family name or surname in Dutch (ex: van Reem) and surnames are historically taken after a male patriarch in most societies. In the Arab world, “Reem” is popularly understood to mean  “gazelles” or “white antelopes” (clearly some connection to animals with “horns”). Lots of Arabic words have digressed from their original Semitic roots. Take for example the famous case of the word  “‘houris” which has been misunderstood for centuries as “doe-eyed fair maidens” when they could also mean “white raisins of crystal clarity”.  (Source: The Guardian)

But it’s clear there is some Semitic origin for this word. According to this early 19th Century report of an event which took place in Glasgow City published in the Glasgow Argus newspaper:

Glasgow Argus
MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 7, 1835

…Our visitor is of ancient lineage, though we are by no means certain that it can be traced quite so far back as his flatterers have attempted to do. Some have represented him as the lineal descendant of the Reem , of whom mention is made in the Books of Number and Deuteronomy, in the Psalms, in Job, and in Isaiah. The genealogy is not very clearly made out. In the kindred dialect of the Arabic, Rem denotes an antelope. Of course this does not prove that the Hebrew Reem was an antelope; for only from scientific zoologists can we expect critical accuracy in the matter of names, and we know well the carelessness with which colonists apply the names of the beasts and birds of their fatherland to those which they find in their new domicile. On the other hand, the text of the Septuagint favours the identity of the Reem with the rhinoceros, by translating it monoceros . The Ethiopic translation of the Scriptures renders it Arwe Harish , the names of the rhinoceros; this, however, is of little consequence, as it seems now to be admitted that that translation was made from the Septuagint. This latter, however, was effected before the birth of our Saviour, by Jews resident in Egypt, at a time when the rhinoceros was frequently exhibited there as a part of the royal pomp of the Ptolemies.

Read more of the press overage of the great Indian Rhino’s visit to the UK over here: Rhino Resource

Here’s an alternative definition for “Reem” where scholars argue it translates to a “wild bull or ox” and not “rhinoceros or unicorn”: Unicorns and the KJV

 

a Swedish word used to describe an incredibly sexy, vulgar and physically talented individual. A reem is always envied and desired by others who are not able to reach reem status as well as those who are.