ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3178 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3178 ************************************ 11 Mar 2008 From: Ursula Whitcher Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether or would be an appropriate name for a fourteenth-century man from West Africa. You were also interested in other medieval West African names. We'd like to apologize for the amount of time this letter has taken. We hope this information is still useful to you. We'll begin by describing our sources for medieval West African names. Then we'll discuss the particular names you asked about. Finally, we'll give a couple of lists of other West African names and offer some options for further research. Our sources for medieval West African names are written in Arabic. We have two different types of sources: histories, and inscriptions on monuments or gravestones. The histories focus on rulers and people of high status. The inscriptions mention a broader range of people, but give less information about each person. We have not found in our sources. We have more information about . According to oral tradition, Sundiata was a West African king and the great-uncle of Mansaa Muusaa, who made the hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca. (Throughout this letter, we use double letters such as and to transliterate Arabic long vowels.) The historian Ibn Khalduun, who died in 1406, calls Mansaa Muusaa's great-uncle . (Here the period following the letter 't' represents a small dot below that letter.) Ibn Khalduun says that is a title meaning either 'ruler of the blood royal' or 'vizier', and that means 'lion'. We believe that is an Arabic rendering of the West African name . Ibn Khalduun also mentions two other people named : the grandson of Mansaa Muusa, or , and a vizier who ruled during Ibn Khalduun's lifetime, also called . [1] The fourteenth-century travel writer Ibn Battuta mentions a former Mansaa or king named , and a cousin of the then-current ruler, Mansa Sulaimaan, named . appears to be an alternate Arabic rendering of . It's possible that one or both of these men is identical to one of the men mentioned by Ibn Khalduun; we don't have enough information to be certain. [2] We have compiled a list of people that Ibn Khalduun identifies as being from Mali in his work _Kitaab al-`Ibar_ (_Book of Examples_). Men's Names from Mali, according to Ibn Khalduun [3] Kings ----- Barmandaana (king who converted to Islam) Mansaa Walii (form of `Alii) Maarii Jaat.a S.aakuurah/Sabkhara Mansaa Muusaa Waatii Khaliifa Abuu Bakr Quu Muh.ammad Mansaa Maghaa (local form of Muh.ammad) Mansaa Sulaymaan Qasaa Maarii Jaat.a (a second king of that name) Muusaa (a second king) Maarii Jaat.a (a vizier who became king) Others ------ S.andakii (may be a word meaning vizier, but used as proper name) Saghmanja (a general) `Uthmaan (a scholar) We have also compiled a list of names based on Ibn Battuta's travels. West African Names from Ibn Battuta [2] Farbaa H.usain (Farbaa is a title) Manshaa Juu Muh.ammad ibn `Abd Allaah ibn Yanuumar Yah.yaa ibn Kanz al-Diin ("sultan of Dunqula") ibn al-Faqiih Shams al-Din 'Abd al-Rahmaan Duughaa Mansaa Sulaimaan ("sultan of Malli") Qanjaa Muusaa (deputy of the sultan) al-Haajj Muusa (ambassador from Mansaa Sulaimaan) Jat.al (cousin of Mansaa Sulaimaan) Mansaa Maghaa (Mansaa Sulaimaan's predecessor as Mansaa) Mansaa Muusaa (Maghaa's predecessor as Mansaa) Saaraq Jaat.a (Mansaa Muusaa's grandfather) ibn Shaikh al-Laban Farbaa Maghaa (Farbaa is a title) Farbaa Sulaimaan (Farbaa is a title) Muh.ammad ibn `Umar al-Haajj Muh.ammad al-Wajdii al-Taazii al-Haajj Wujjiin (Battuta glosses as 'jackal) Ibn Battuta also mentions two women. One is named by the title , the feminine counterpart to Mansaa. The other is named . We found a number of inscriptions from archaeological sites in Mali which record medieval African names in Arabic contexts. Some of these names show the influence of Manding languages. For instance, we found the Manding word or in combination with a given name in several inscriptions (one example is ). We also found one man, <`Uma[r] Kumba>, using the Manding byname (literally, 'Big Head'). We'd be happy to give you a longer list of names from inscriptions if you are interested: for instance, we could compile a list of men's names beginning with 'S'. [4] Juliana de Luna, Talan Gwynek, Aelfwynn Leoflaede dohtor, Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Eleyne de Comnocke, and Maridonna Benvenuti assisted in researching and writing this letter. For the Academy, Ursula Georges 11 March 2008 References: [1] J. F. P. Hopkins, trans. _Corpus of early Arabic sources for West African History_, ed. N. Levtzion and J. F. P. Hopkins. Princeton: Markus Weiner Publishers, 2000, pp. 332-342. [2] Said Hamdun and Noel King, trans. _Ibn Battuta in Black Africa_. London: Collings, 1975. [3] Hopkins pp. 322-342. [4] P.F. de Moraes Farias, _Arabic Medieval Inscriptions from the Republic of Mali_. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, sections 539-40, inscription 198.