ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2236 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2236 ************************************ 03 Mar 2001 From: Judith Phillips Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us whether , called or , would be an appropriate name for an Arabic man living between 1200 and 1550. Here is the information we found. Arabic names can contain a variety of elements. The 'ism is a given name, such as or . (The apostrophe represents a glottal stop, like the sound in the middle of .) The kunya is an honorific byname that describes an individual as the parent of his or her eldest son [1]. In a name, it usually precedes the 'ism. For example, signifies "Ibrahim father of Mohammed." The nasab or pedigree is a very common type of byname that describes a person as the son or daughter of the father [1]. For example, signifies "Mohammed the son of Ibrahim." The lakab was a descriptive byname relating to nature, an admirable quality, or a religious conviction. An example is , "Salim the Rightly-Guided". A special type of lakab was devotional and described a person as a servant of God, such as <'Abd Allah>, "servant of Allah." We have no example of a devotional lakab and an 'ism used in the same name; the same individual might use one or the other, depending on the circumstances, but rarely both at the same time. For example, might also have been known as <'Abd al-Aziz ibn Ahmad>. His son might have been called either or . An occupational hisba is a byname derived from a person's job. For example, means "Mohammed the dresser of cotton" [1]. A geographical hisba is derived from the place of residence or birth [1]. For example, means "Yusef the man from Baghdad". An Arabic man in your period would have used a given name ('ism or devotional lakab) with at least one byname, and it was not unusual for a man to use a combination of several bynames. [1] Your name needs a few corrections. appears to be a misspelling of , an Arabic word meaning "avenger." is one of the attributes of Allah; , "O Avenger", is a name of Allah based on this attribute. We have not found alone as a name. While some of the attributes of Allah, such as , "the strong", were used as lakabs, we have no evidence that was used as a name and do not believe that it is particularly plausible; thus we do not recommend it. It was also possible to form a lakab by prefacing an attribute of Allah with the phrase <'abd al->; <'Abd al-Muntaqim> means "servant of the Avenger." We have not found <'Abd al-Muntaqim> as a name, but based on the widespread pattern of devotional names created using the various attributes of Allah, we believe that it's plausible. [2] is an attested 'ism; it is an excellent choice for your given name. [1] We aren't certain how you formed your nickname ; it is not typical of any Arabic naming pattern of which we are aware. We haven't found any use of the element <-shan> in Arabic. appears to be a mis-transliteration of one of two descriptive bynames: , meaning "the ripper", or , meaning "the clever, shrewd, cunning" [1, 3]. (The period in represents a dot under the preceding letter, indicating an emphatic consonant.) Both and were found in your period, although was probably somewhat more common. Either would be a fine choice for your byname. Your name contains an attested 'ism, . is an inaccurate transliteration of either or . Arabic names sometimes contained only an 'ism and a single descriptive byname, so would be a fine choice for your name. can be used to construct a lakab, <'Abd al-Muntaqim>; this sort of lakab would have replaced the 'ism in your name. <'Abd al-Muntaqim al-Shaat.ir> would be a plausible name for your period. Most Arabic names also contained a nasab. If you wish to use both and <'Abd al-Muntaqim> in your name, you could use one of them as the name of your father. Either ("Dharr al-Shaat.ir, son of 'Abd al-Muntaqim") or <'Abd al-Muntaqim al-Shaat.ir ibn Dharr> ('Abd al-Muntaqim al-Shaat.ir, son of Dharr) would be a possibility. I hope that this letter has been useful to you. Please do not hesitate to contact us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have any further questions. I was assisted in writing this letter by Arval Benicoeur, Juliana de Luna, Sion Andreas, Julie Stampnitzky, Talan Gwynek, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja. For the Academy, Adeliza de Saviniaco 3 March 2001 ----------------------------------------------------- References: [1] 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) [URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/daud/arabic-naming/] [2] Mustapha al-Muhaddith ibn al-Saqaat, "Arabic Pesonal Names from the Futuwwah", ed. Arval Benicoeur and Avelina of the Bridge (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999) [URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/mustapha/futuwwah.html].