Also 7 germo, 7–8 germe, 9 djerm. [Arabic jarm; in It. germa, F. djerme.] A small one- or two-masted vessel with large lateen sails used on the Egyptian coast; formerly applied to larger trading vessels in the Levant.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., III. 118. In Salonica I found a Germo, bound for Tenedos, in which I imbarked.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 281. At Roussetta we … imbarked by night in a Germe, and the next day were in Alexandria.
1799. Naval Chron., II. 325. His Lordship set out from Alexandria in a germe, or open boat. Ibid. (1800), XXIV. 222. Spoke a Jerm from El-Aarish.
1819. T. Hope, Anastasius (1820), I. xv. 292. On board one of the country djerms.
Jerm-, obs. spelling of GERM- in various words.
