The word alkoran properly signifies reading: a title given it by way of eminence, just as we call the Old and New Testaments Scriptures. See Mahometanism.
Alcoran, in a figurative sense, is an appellation given to any books full of impostures or impiety.
Alcoran, among the Persians, is also used for a narrow kind of steeple, with two or three galleries, where the priests, called Moravites, say prayers with a loud voice.