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 <Sule> or <Sundiata> 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 <Sule> in our sources.  We have more information about
<Sundiata>.  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 <aa> and <uu> to transliterate Arabic long vowels.)  The
historian Ibn Khalduun, who died in 1406, calls Mansaa Muusaa's
great-uncle <Maarii Jaat.a>.  (Here the period following the letter 't'
represents a small dot below that letter.)  Ibn Khalduun says that
<Maarii> is a title meaning either 'ruler of the blood royal' or
'vizier', and that <Jaat.a> means 'lion'.  We believe that <Jaat.a> is
an Arabic rendering of the West African name <Diata>.  Ibn Khalduun also
mentions two other people named <Jaat.a>: the grandson of Mansaa Muusa,
<Maarii Jaat.a> or <Mansaa Jaat.a>, and a vizier who ruled during Ibn
Khalduun's lifetime, also called <Maarii Jaat.a>. [1]  The
fourteenth-century travel writer Ibn Battuta mentions a former Mansaa or
king named <Saaraq Jaat.a>, and a cousin of the then-current ruler,
Mansa Sulaimaan, named <Jat.al>.  <Jat.al> appears to be an alternate
Arabic rendering of <Diata>.  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 <Wujjiin> as 'jackal)

Ibn Battuta also mentions two women.  One is named by the title
<Qaasaa>, the feminine counterpart to Mansaa.  The other is named <Banjuu>.

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 <Waa> or <Wa> in combination with a given name in
several inscriptions (one example is <Waa Makkii bni Yuusuf>).  We also
found one man, <`Uma[r] Kumba>, using the Manding byname <Kumba>
(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.