ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2181
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2181
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8 Feb 2001
From: (Josh Mittleman)
Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You asked whether <Mihrimah al-Sudqan> is an appropriate name for a 13th
century Persian woman. You wrote that your friend constructed it to mean
"Sun/Moon the friendly". Here is what we have found.
Unfortunately, we doubt this name is correct for 13th century Persia. We
haven't found any good information about names in Persia, but the
information we found about your name isn't encouraging.
<Mihrimah> was the name the only daughter of the 16th-century Turkish ruler
Suleiman the Magnificent [1]. You wrote that you had heard of a mosque
named <Mihrimah>; that mosque was built in 1548 and named for Suleiman's
daughter [2, 3]. We do not know whether this name was used in other times
and places in our period, and we found no good evidence connecting it with
Persia. Turkish, Persian, and Arabic were different languages and used
different names. Without further evidence, we can't recommend <Mihrimah>
as good re-creation for any setting other than 16th century Turkey.
Your byname <al-Sudqan> is Arabic, but it isn't correctly constructed.
<S.udqaan> is the plural of the Arabic word <s.adiiq> "friendly". The
correct Arabic phrase for "the friendly [woman]" is <al-S.adiiqah>. The
masculine form of the byname, <al-S.adiiq>, was used in medieval Arabic
names [4], so we believe the feminine form is a reasonable choice for an
Arabic-speaking woman in your period. (In the transliterations of Arabic
words in this paragraph, the dot after the 'S' is an "emphatic mark",
properly written as a dot under the letter. In the system we're using,
<s.> and <s> represent different Arabic letters. The difference between
their pronunciations is rather difficult to explain. If you're interested,
you'll need to talk with someone who speaks Arabic.)
We don't know if these two elements could have been combined at any time in
our period. Many Arabic words were adopted into both Turkish and Persian
[5, 6], but we do not know if <s.adiiqah> was one of those words and we
don't know whether these loan-words were used in Turkish or Persian
personal names. If you particularly want a Persian name, then I'm afraid
we're unlikely to be able to help you: We've found no useful information
about medieval Persian names. On the other hand, we thought you might be
interested in an Arabic name very similar to the one you chose: <Maryam
al-S.adiiqah>. <Maryam> is an Arabic form of <Mary> that was used in the
Middle Ages [4].
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, Adelaide de
Beaumont, Talan Gwynek, Julie Stampnitzky, Sion Andreas, Da'ud ibn Auda,
Miguel Antonio Santos de Borja, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Juliana de
Luna, and Devora bat Shimshon.
For the Academy,
Arval Benicoeur
8 Feb 2001
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References
[1] Atil, Esin, _Su"leymanname: The Illustrated History of S{u"}leyman the
Magnificent_ (New York, Harry N Abrams, 1986)., pp. 21-22, 24, 29, 33, 179.
[2] "U:sku:dar", _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ (WWW: britannica.com,
1999-2000).
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/3/0,5716,76473+1+74521,00.html
[3] "Mihrimah Mosque" in the Wonders of the World Databank (WWW: PBS
Online, 2000).
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/wonder/structure/mihrimah_mosque.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/
[5] "Turkish Language", _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ (WWW: britannica.com,
1999-2000).
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/2/0,5716,75782+1+73851,00.html
[6] "Persian Language", _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ (WWW: britannica.com,
1999-2000).
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/9/0,5716,60829+1+59341,00.html