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Re: FI: Muslim Place Names



--- In westasianconlangs@yahoogroups.com, "Isaac Penzev" 
<isaacp@u...> wrote:
> Salaam, Tony!

Please don't call me Tony.

> I don't thnik I have all answers you need, I rather have some
> questions in return.
> 
> habarakhe4 eskriviw:
> 
> > Could someone examine these names and help me with those marked
> > with '?' ?
> >
> > Muslim south America         Al-Wiraniyya/Watan al-Gharb
> 
> Do your Muslim conquerers all speak Arabic, or is it just a 
cultural
> language (cf. modern Iran)?

The primary imported languages are Classical Arabic, Modern Standard 
Arabic, and Berber. South America, however, is a big place, so 
pockets of other speakers can exist. *Here*, Italians, Welsh, Irish, 
and Koreans all emigrated to Argentina or Chile. The Jews of Rosh 
Yeledim (Valdez Peninsula) are an example, the assorted Syrian 
enclaves another.

> 
> The word |wat.an| does not mean "country". It means "motherland". 
It
> is better to use the word |qut.r| for a larger piece of land, and
> |balad| for a smaller one (or just region).

So would one use qut.r for 'independent state'?
For the record, I don't yet know how the Islamic portion of al-
Wiraniyya is divided politically. I think al-Fid.d.a is important, 
though.

> 
> > Rio de la Plata Nahr al-Fad.d.a
nahr al-fid.d.a

> > La Plata M. al-Fad.d.a
> > Argentina Watan al-Fad.d.a
> 
> From what I see, you are just giving calques. What are the reasons
> for that? Mere mnemonics? What dialect is the spelling based on?
> Standard is |fid.d.a|, supported also by a Farsi borrowing:
> |fezze| - first /e/ always corresponds to short Arabic /i/.

I'm using two semi-competent dictionaries. One seems to give 
Egyptian pronunciation. The other - I don't know what dialect that 
is.
 (FI is an entire world - I can't afford to buy all the necessary 
reference materials).

The mnemonics are in part to help me remember where is where (the 
curse of the inventive conlanger/conculturer). The calques also 
allow others such as you to critique it!

> 
> > Rio Grand do Sul Nahr al-Kibir al-Kibli
> 
> nahr ul-kabi:r (wa:di l-kabi:r) uj-janu:bi:
> qibla merely mean "direction to Mecca", which is *not* south here.

Blast those cultural distinctions. Janubi is what I had before. I 
suppose that baha:ri: is north only in Egyptian Arabic, then?

> 
> > S? Paulo M. al-Hasan
> 
> Oho! How those Shi`a boys get to America? Totally impossible.
> 
> The same remarks concern the skipped part. Calques may seem 
strange.
> Check the spelling.

> In general, quite a cool stuff. In my Ajami ATL,
> America is conquered by Muslims too, but speaking an Arabo-Romance
> language "Adjamiya" - an equivalent of Spanish and Portuguese
> *here*.
> 
> Bechairo y tale bueno,
> (lit. =with [desires of] luck and good lucky star),
> -- Yitzik