ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1769 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1769 ************************************ 30 Jul 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a Islamic woman in Andalusia in the 10th or 11th century. You also asked whether women used versions of names that begin with . Here is what we have found. Although is used as a woman's given name in modern Arabic, we have not found evidence that it was used that way in period [6]. You observed that the palace was named after the wife of a caliph, and that one of Mohammed's daughters was called . This is not quite correct. The Arabic phrase (pronounced \az-zah-RAH\) means "the radiant". Mohammed's daughter Fatima was nicknamed [1]. means "the radiant city". The 10th century palace was indeed named after a caliph's wife, but it was based on her nickname, not her given name [2]. So, if you pick an appropriate first name, like , then appears to be a good choice for your period [3]. We can suggest a couple given names that sound similar to : and [7, 8]. is an Arabic version of the Old Testament name, used through the Islamic world. is a name from the Magrib that was imported to Andalusia in the Muslim conquest. If you'd like to consider some other possibilities, you can find some period Arabic women's names on the web: A List of Arabic Women's Names http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/arabicwomen.html Most often, women in medieval Muslim society were identified as their fathers' daughters or as their sons' mothers. Sara daughter of Hassan al-Rida ibn Abd al-`Aziz could have been known as or . If her son were called , she could have been called , , or simply . Women were occasionally also identified by descriptive nicknames like or ; if the same woman moved away from Andalusia, she might have been called [11]. The Arabic word means "O", as in "O God!". It would never be used in a person's name, male or female. Muslims address their god using a variety of phrases like "O Knower!" or "O Forgiver!". Sometimes, one of these phrases was used to form a religious name or nickname, called a . Lakabs were generally given only to male children. They were given in addition to the boys' first names, though a man might later come to use his lakab in preference to his other names [5]. Masculine examples include <`Abd al-Malik> "devotee of the King" and <`Abd al-`Aziz> "devotee of the Strong" [4]. We have found a few period examples of a feminine equivalent to this practice, using the word "maidservant" [9]: Amat al-Wahid "maidservant of the Unique" (died 987) Amat al-Jalil "maidservant of the Splendid" (before 1280) Amat al-Khaliq "maidservant of the Creator" (died 1496) All of the names of Allah are used in similar compounds in modern Arabic [10], and it is not unreasonable to assume that any of the ones used in masculine lakabs in period could have had feminine equivalents. Of course, the ones actually documented in period are the best choices for accurate re-creation. A feminine version of a period masculine lakab would be the next best choice; you can find a list of period masculine examples in reference [4]. In the examples we found, these feminine lakabs were used as given names by themselves. Thus, a woman might have been called "Amat al-Jalil daughter of Isma'il". We haven't found evidence of a name like , but we can't rule out that possibility [12]. 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, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Juliana de Luna, Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja, Talan Gwynek, Dafydd ap Piers, and Barak Raz. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 30 Jul 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Schimmel, Annemarie, _Islamic Names_ (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1989), pp. 36, 44. [2] Crow, J. A., _Spain: The Root and the Flower_ (Berkeley: Univ. of Calif. Press, 1985), p.57. [3] We also found an example of an Andalusian man called . It would therefore also be appropriate to call yourself something like . Manuela Mari/n, _Estudios Onoma/stico-biogra/ficos de al-Andalus_, (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cienti/ficas, Instituto de Filologi/a, Departmento de Estudios Arabes, 1988-1997). [4] Mustapha al-Muhaddith ibn al-Saqaat, "The One Hundred Most Beautiful Names of God" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/mustapha/cnamesofgod.html [5] Sublet, Jacqueline, "Nom et Identite/ dans le Monde Musulman", pp.97-108 in Bourin, Monique, Jean-Marie-Martin, and Francois Menant, eds., _L'Anthroponymie: Document de l'Histoire Sociale des Mondes Me/diterrane/ens Me/die/vaux_, Collection de l'E/cole Franc,aise de Rome, 226 (Rome: E/cole Franc,aise de Rome, 1996). [6] Hamid, Azieza, _The Book of Muslim Names_ (London: MELS, 1985), p.21. Note that this book is _not_ a reliable source for period names. [7] Da'ud ibn Auda, "A List of Arabic Women's Names" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996). http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/arabicwomen.html [8] Manzano, Miguel Angel, "Onomastic Benimerin: el Problema de la Legitimidad" in Manuela Mari/n, _Estudios Onoma/stico-biogra/ficos de al-Andalus_, (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cienti/ficas, Instituto de Filologi/a, Departmento de Estudios Arabes, 1988-1997), v.2. [9] Roded, Ruth, _Women in Islamic Biographical Collections: From Ibn Sa'd to 'Who's Who'_ (Boulder, Col., Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1994). [10] Ibn-Stanford Ibn-Edward Ibn-George Smith, Antar (or Smith, Antar Ibn-Stanford), _Muslim Names and Birth-Rites_, (Jackson, Mich.: The Qur'anic Civilization Association, Inc., 1985). Modern examples are "maidservant of the Omnipotent", "maidservant of the Almighty", "maidservant of the Unique". [11] Aguilar, Victoria, "Mujeres de la _Takmila_ de Ibn al-Abbar en un Manuscrito de Rabat" in Manuela Mari/n, _Estudios Onoma/stico-biogra/ficos de al-Andalus_, (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cienti/ficas, Instituto de Filologi/a, Departmento de Estudios Arabes, 1988-1997), v.1. We found these examples of feminine descriptive bynames: "the Andalusian", , . We have not been able to determine the meanings of the last two. [12] We have found examples where other types of Arabic feminine bynames are used either as replacement given names or as bynames. For example, in the name , the kunya is descriptive, meaning "mother of al-Walid", but it is used in place of the woman's given name. On the other hand, in the name , the kunya is used as a byname [11].