ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3060 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3060 ************************************ 11 Jul 2005 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if or is an appropriate name for an Arabic woman living in Egypt any time between 900 and 1350. Here is the information we have found. Both of your given names and your father's name are fine choices, and the construction is appropriate for your period. [1] There are multiple ways that the Arabic language can transcribed into the Roman alphabet; we recommend the transcription that spells these elements , , and , as this better represents the Arabic spelling. (Here, the period represents a dot under the previous letter). [7,8] (more properly transcribed [6]) was the original city at the modern site of Cairo; it was founded in the 7th century, thrived in the 10th, and was destroyed in the 12th. [2,3,4] A man from this city would have been known as ; a woman would have been known as . We've found only one example of a woman being known by both a patronymic and a locative at the same time. [5] When both were used, the locative follows the patronymic, regardless of whom it referred to. For example, in , H.aliimah is from Fustaat, but in , it is Faat.imah's father al-Rabii' that is from Fustaat. We can give you a rough approximation of the pronunciation of these names; in order to get the stress and some of the vowels correct, you'll want to talk with a native Arabic speaker. \haw-LEEE-mah beent ahl-rah-BEEE'\, where \ee\ is a shorter version of \EEE\, and the apostrophe is a glottal stop, the 'catch' in the middle of 'unh-oh'. \FAAH-tee-mah\, where \aah\ is a longer \ah\ \ahl-foo-STAAH-tee\ \ahl-foo-staah-TEE-yah\ We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Katherine Throckmorton, Arval Benicoeur, Juliana de Luna, Talan Gwynek, Ursula filia Georgii, and Mor inghean Chathail. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 10 July 2005 -- References: [1] Da'ud ibn Auda, "Period Arabic Naming Practices and Names List," (WWW: SCA.org, 2003) http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/arabic-naming2.htm [2] "Fustat, the first Islamic capital in Egypt" (WWW: University College London, 2003) http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/fustat/ [3] Kjeilen, Tore, "Old Cairo: Fustat" (WWW: LexicOrient, 1996-2005) http://www.lexicorient.com/egypt/cairo09.htm [4] Thornton, Ted, "Fustat" (WWW: NMHSchool.org, 2004) http://www.nmhschool.org/tthornton/mehistorydatabase/fustat.htm [5] Academy of S. Gabriel Report #2494 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2494 has [6] Husayn Ibn Isma'eel Al-Jamal "Biography of Al-Haafidh Shams-ud-Deen Muhammad bin 'Abdir-Rahmaan As-Sakhaawee" (WWW: Al-Manhaj.com, 1999-2005) http://al-manhaj.com/details.cfm?DetailID=91 [7] Hamid, Azieza, _The Book of Muslim Names_ (London: MELS, 1985). [8] Dodge, Baynard, _The Fihrist of al-Nadim_ (New York: Columbia University Press, 1970).