Open Sesame
E418775
"Open Sesame" is the magical phrase from the folk tale "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" that causes a hidden thieves' treasure cave to open.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Open Sesame canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4176977 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Open Sesame Context triple: [Ali Baba, notablePhrase, Open Sesame]
-
A.
The Sword of Ali Baba
The Sword of Ali Baba is a 1965 adventure film that offers a swashbuckling retelling of the Ali Baba legend set against an exoticized Middle Eastern backdrop.
-
B.
Iff the Water Genie
Iff the Water Genie is a whimsical, pipe-smoking water spirit who guides the young hero Haroun through the magical Sea of Stories in Salman Rushdie’s novel.
-
C.
Aladdin
Aladdin is a popular 1992 animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, inspired by the Middle Eastern folk tale from One Thousand and One Nights.
-
D.
Aladdin (folk tale)
Aladdin (folk tale) is a famous Middle Eastern story, best known from the One Thousand and One Nights collection, about a poor young man who discovers a magical lamp containing a powerful genie.
-
E.
The Door with Seven Locks
The Door with Seven Locks is a 1926 crime novel by British writer Edgar Wallace, centered on a mysterious inheritance, a heavily secured tomb, and a web of murder and intrigue.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Open Sesame Target entity description: "Open Sesame" is the magical phrase from the folk tale "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" that causes a hidden thieves' treasure cave to open.
-
A.
The Sword of Ali Baba
The Sword of Ali Baba is a 1965 adventure film that offers a swashbuckling retelling of the Ali Baba legend set against an exoticized Middle Eastern backdrop.
-
B.
Iff the Water Genie
Iff the Water Genie is a whimsical, pipe-smoking water spirit who guides the young hero Haroun through the magical Sea of Stories in Salman Rushdie’s novel.
-
C.
Aladdin
Aladdin is a popular 1992 animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, inspired by the Middle Eastern folk tale from One Thousand and One Nights.
-
D.
Aladdin (folk tale)
Aladdin (folk tale) is a famous Middle Eastern story, best known from the One Thousand and One Nights collection, about a poor young man who discovers a magical lamp containing a powerful genie.
-
E.
The Door with Seven Locks
The Door with Seven Locks is a 1926 crime novel by British writer Edgar Wallace, centered on a mysterious inheritance, a heavily secured tomb, and a web of murder and intrigue.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
catchphrase
ⓘ
magic phrase ⓘ password phrase ⓘ |
| appearsIn |
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
ⓘ
One Thousand and One Nights NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
magic
ⓘ
secret cave ⓘ thieves ⓘ treasure ⓘ |
| contrastedWith | incorrect phrases that fail to open the cave ⓘ |
| culturalOrigin | Middle Eastern folklore ⓘ |
| etymologyHypothesis | may relate to sesame pods opening ⓘ |
| firstKnownIn | medieval Arabic manuscripts of One Thousand and One Nights ⓘ |
| function |
opens a hidden cave
ⓘ
reveals thieves' treasure ⓘ |
| genre | folk tale element ⓘ |
| hasAdaptation |
stage adaptations of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
ⓘ
various film adaptations of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves ⓘ |
| hasEnglishForm | Open Sesame ⓘ |
| hasMistranslation | sometimes thought to refer to sesame seeds literally ⓘ |
| hasMotiveContext | used to steal treasure in the story ⓘ |
| hasNotableCharacterInteraction |
Ali Baba overhears thieves using the phrase
ⓘ
Ali Baba's brother forgets the phrase and is trapped ⓘ |
| hasTranslation | Open, O sesame ⓘ |
| influenced | modern expressions about opening or unlocking ⓘ |
| languageOfOrigin | Arabic ⓘ |
| medium | oral literature ⓘ |
| moralContext | connected to themes of greed and justice ⓘ |
| narrativeEffect |
creates sense of wonder
ⓘ
marks transition from ordinary to magical space ⓘ |
| narrativeRole | plot device ⓘ |
| opposesPhrase | Close Sesame ⓘ |
| originalForm | iftah ya simsim ⓘ |
| partOf |
The Arabian Nights
ⓘ
surface form:
Arabian Nights tradition
|
| referencedIn |
cartoons
ⓘ
children's literature ⓘ comics ⓘ fantasy fiction ⓘ popular culture ⓘ |
| requires | correct wording to work in the tale ⓘ |
| symbolizes |
access to hidden wealth
ⓘ
secret knowledge ⓘ sudden opportunity ⓘ |
| usedAs |
metaphor for easy access
ⓘ
metaphor for unlocking secrets ⓘ |
| usedBy |
Ali Baba
ⓘ
forty thieves ⓘ |
| usedIn | Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Open Sesame Description of subject: "Open Sesame" is the magical phrase from the folk tale "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" that causes a hidden thieves' treasure cave to open.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.