ghresh

Updated: May 28, 2025

Ghresh, or Gresh, is an expression in the Arabic tongue, meaning to expel or drive away, and, as I apprehend, by the repetition of the word, is the expression from which the African gris-gris is derived, consisting of exorcised feathers, cloth, &c., short sentences from the Koran, written on parchment, and enclosed in small ornamented leathern cases, worn about their persons, under the idea that it will keep away evil spirits, and is a species of fetish.

Joseph Corry - Observations Upon the Windward Coast of Africa