The word genie is the English equivalent of the Arabic jinn (or djinn). Genies, as any kid who has watched Disney’s Aladdin can tell you, come from Arabia.

Just how did people come up with the idea of powerful beings with no more substance than smoke, who were kept in lamps and granted wishes when they were released? I’ve read a fair amount of mythology, but mostly that of European origins. So I decided to see what I could find out to answer his question. He wanted to know where the idea of the genie, specifically, came from. But that wouldn’t really answer his question either. I could also have given an abstract answer about how people have come up with fanciful stories to explain things they don’t understand. But I don’t think he meant the “where” geographically. I was tempted to answer that the origins of legends are almost by definition unknown, and that at most we can say what part of the world they come from. This morning during breakfast, my son Al asked me, “Where did the idea of genies come from?” I have no idea what brought the question on, as I don’t remember they’re having been part of our conversation up to that point.

Genie aladdin somebody rub the lamp