ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2494
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2494
************************************

13 Apr 2002
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Um-Hussayn ibn Dawoud ibn Mohammed ibn Othman ibn Thabet
Al-Adeen> is an appropriate name for an Arabic woman living before 1500.
Here is what we have found.

Each of the masculine names you've used to compose your name is excellent:
We've found them in various period sources [1, 2, 3].  However, the
particular spellings you've used are not particularly good representations
of the pronunciations of the Arabic names [4].  We recommend spelling them:

  H.usayn
  Dawuud
  Muh.ammad
  'Uthmaan
  Thaabit

The apostrophe in one of these names represents an Arabic letter which is
pronounced as a glottal stop, i.e. the sound in the middle of <uh-uh>.  The
period in two of the names should actually be a dot under the preceding
letter.  It indicates a pharyngial consonant, i.e. one pronounced in the
back of the throat.  We can't explain the pronunciation any more clearly;
if you want to get it right, we recommend you ask a native Arabic speaker
to demonstrate it for you.

We also recommend <Umm>, rather than <Um>, as the best representation of
the Arabic word.

It was common for a woman to be identified as the mother of her son, <Umm
H.usayn>, but it was _her_ ancestry that followed, not her son's or her
husband's.  In other words, if her ancestry were included in her name, the
first name after her son's was her father's, e.g. <Umm H.usayn bint Dawuud>
"Mother-of-H.usayn daughter of Dawuud".  As you've constructed your name,
it says that you are the son of Dawuud, which is obviously wrong.

It was rare for a name to include as many as four generations of ancestors,
particularly a woman's name, but it wasn't unheard of.  For example, here
are a couple medieval examples of women identified with a much longer
ancestry [5]:

  Jawla bint `Alii ibn T.aalib ibn `Abd Allaah ibn Tamiim al-Fihriyya 

  Umm al-Waliid bint al-Nas.r ibn Salama ibn Waliid ibn Abii Bakr ibn
  `Ubayd Allaah ibn `Alii ibn `Iyaad

Probably a much shorter form was used in most circumstances.

We have not found reference to a Yemeni tribe called <al-Adeen>.  You wrote
that you know it exists; if you can describe your evidence, we may be able
to use that as a starting point to learn more.  We did find a couple modern
examples of that phrase used to identify a region of Yemen [6], but that's
not particularly strong evidence.  If there were a tribe called <Adiin>
(using the more accurate transliteration scheme we recommend), then the
masculine byname derived from it would be <al-Adiinii> and the feminine
form would be <al-Adiiniiyah>.

Putting everything together, we can recommend the name <Umm H.ussayn bint
Dawuud ibn Muh.ammad ibn 'Uthmaan ibn Thaabit> "Mother-of-H.ussayn daughter
of Dawuud son of Muh.ammad son of 'Uthmaan son of Thaabit".  If there was
indeed a tribe called <Adiin>, then you could append <al-Adiiniyah>.  Most
of the time it would be appropriate just to use <Umm H.ussayn bint Dawuud>.


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 Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Julie
Stampnitzky, Ursula Georges, Talan Gwynek, Sion Andreas, Juliana de
Luna, and Da'ud ibn Auda.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  13 Apr 2002

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References

[1] Da'ud ibn Auda, "Arabic Naming Practices and Names List" (WWW:
J. Mittleman, 1998).
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/daud/arabic-naming/

[2] Juliana de Luna, "Andalusian Names: Arabs in Spain" (WWW: J. Mittleman,
2001).
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/andalusia/

[3] Mustapha al-Muhaddith ibn al-Saqaat, "Arabic Personal Names from the
Futuwwah", ed. Arval Benicoeur and Avelina of the Bridge (WWW:
J. Mittleman, 1999).
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mustapha/futuwwah.html 

[4] The <s> in <H.usayn> is not doubled in the Arabic form.  There is no
<e> or <a> in classical Arabic.  The name <Dawuud> is pronounced <Da'uud>
in some parts of the Arabic world.

[5] 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. 

[6] http://www.ain-al-yaqeen.com/issues/19991029/feat7en.htm