ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3069 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3069 ************************************ 29 May 2006 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wrote about a name for an Arabic woman from the Middle East, living before 1250. You were interested in the name . Before we start, we'd like to apologize for the amount of time it has taken us to complete this report. We hope the information is still useful to you. We believe that is a form of the name [1], meaning either 'radiant', 'resplendent' or 'flower, blossom', particularly the flower or blossom of the orange tree [2, 3]. You can find more information about the name in two of our previous reports: http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/1769/ http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/2772/ We have found the form in use in 15th and 16th century Valencia, which is in eastern Spain, and also in southern Spain [4, 5, 6]. However, this is not an Arabic form, but rather an adaptation of the Arabic into one of the Romance languages of the Iberian peninsula. (Romance languages are those descended from Latin, including Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan.) Other Romance forms of the same name were (where represents the letter c-cedilla, a with a little comma hanging from its base) and [4]. We also found , the name of a female slave, recorded in Sicily before 1287, which is also from the same root. [7] Muslims in the Iberian peninsula would have used an Arabic form of the name, formed from the Arabic root woord . We found the following such forms in use [4]: Zahraa' 'resplendent' Zuhra 'Venus' Zaahira 'brilliant' Zuhuur Zuhayra a diminutive of one of the above The apostrophe in represents a glottal stop, which is the sound in the middle of . In short, we can't recommend as a good recreation of name for an Arabic-speaking woman from the Middle East. It could, however, be a name for a Muslim woman living in 15th- or 16th-century Spain. Such a woman would likely have been called , or a similar Arabic name, by fellow Arabic speakers, though she'd be called by speakers of Romance languages such as Castilian (Spanish) and Valencian (a language related to Catalan). Alternatively, a Muslim woman living in Sicily, with an Arabic name similar to , could have been called or similar by non-Arabic speakers. 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 Arval Benicoeur, Juliana de Luna, Maridonna Benvenuti, Gunnvor silfraharr, Talan Gwynek, and Adelaide de Beaumont. For the Academy, Leonor Martin & Aryanhwy merch Catmael 29 May 2006 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References: [1] is the name of a town in Cadiz, Southern Spain. Its name comes from the Arabic , which means 'brilliant'. M.A. Palacios, _Contribucio/n a la Toponimia A/rabe de Espan~a_, CSIC, 2nd ed. Madrid-Granada, 1944, s.n. . (The slash represents an accent over the preceding letter; while represents the letter enya, an with a tilde on top, as in the Spanish .) [2] Hanks, Patrick, and Flavia Hodges, _A Dictionary of First Names_ (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988, 1990). Supplement 1, 'Common Names in the Arab World', by Mona Baker, s.n. , p.385. [3] Hamid, Azieza, _The Book of Muslim Names_ (London: MELS, 1985). [4] Ana Labarta _La Onoma/stica de los Moriscos Valencianos_ (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cienti/ficas, Madrid, 1987) [5] is also the name of town close to the Kingdom of Granada, in Cordoba, southern Spain. In the late 15th century, the only Muslem territory in Spain was that of the Kingdom of Granada. The seizure by its sultan of the fortified town of , in 1481, together with his refusal to pay the annual tribute to the Kingdom of Castile, launched the War of Granada. This led to the eventual defeat of the last bastion of Islam in Europe. _Spain_. WWW: Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Premium Service, 21 May 2005 http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=70377. [6] Another town, in inland Cadiz, is called , 'Zahara of the Mountains') to distinguish form the previous one. _Zahara de la Sierra_, WWW: Up, Bustle and Out, 2002. http://www.upbustleandout.co.uk/zahara/sierra/sierra.htm [7] Girolamo Caracausi, _Dizionario Onomastico della Sicilia_ (Palermo, 1994). s.n. Zagara, p. 1726