ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1436 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1436 ************************************ 25 Jan 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate period Arabic woman's name. Here is what we have found. appears to be only a modern Arabic name; we found no evidence that it was used in Arabic in period. If the name were used in the Koran for a historical person, then it would reasonable to assume that it could have been used in our period. However, we searched a couple different versions of the Koran, and found no mention of or in any spelling [1, 2]. The Koran mentions Mary many times, but apparently does not refer to her mother. It may be significant that was first mentioned as the mothers of Mary in Christian writings of the early 2nd century. The account, in a book called "The Protoevangelium of James", is of doubtful reliability. was popular in many Christian countries and was used in at least some Jewish communities, so it is not impossible that some medieval Arabic communities might have adopted a form of the name; but since we found no evidence that the name was used in period, we advise you to consider other choices. You can find lists of documented, period Arabic women's names on web: http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/other.html#arabic The most similar name on those lists is [3]. The general form of the name you asked about is correct: Women were often known as their son's mothers. Hanifah, mother of 'Abdu'llah would have been called . Our best information is that the maternal honorific came first, before the woman's given name [4]. <'Abdu'llah> is a more accurate transliteration of the Arabic name than . The apostrophe represents a glottal stop, called a "hamza" in Arabic. A glottal stop is the sound between the two halves of (meaning "no"). We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Pedro de Alcazar, Da'ud ibn Auda, Walraven van Nijmegen, Sion Andreas, Alan Fairfax, Juliana de Luna, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, AElfwyn aet Gyrwum, Blaise de Cormeilles, and Margaret Makafee. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 25 Jan 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Scholarly Technology Group Quran Browser http://goon.stg.brown.edu/quran_browser/pqeasy.shtml [2] The Koran http://www.hti.umich.edu/relig/koran/ [3] Da'ud ibn Auda, "A List of Arabic Women's Names" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996). http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/arabicwomen.html [4] Da'ud ibn Auda, "Arabic Naming Practices and Names List," _Compleat Anachronist_ #51, "The Islamic World" (Milpitas: SCA, Inc, Autumn 1990; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1998). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/daud/arabic-naming/