Why Is The Libyan Leader's Name Always Spelled Differently....?
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Jesus Jackson
Members Posts: 1,957 ✭✭✭
...... Seriously, exactly what is the correct spelling of this dude's name? How do you spell it? Does HE even know? There was a radio skit about this very topic years ago. I'm not even gonna try to spell it, because I have no clue ... But, anytime you see this dude's name in print (whether it be in the newspaper, online or television) it's never spelled the same way twice... What I wanna know is WHY??? Does anybody have the answer? And does anybody know the correct spelling of the Libyan leader's name? Your input would be greatly appreciated.
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Not all languages use the Roman alphabet, so sometimes there is no definite Roman alphabet equivalent when writing something from another language.
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i hate to give this kind of answer ... but there's a decent Wikipedia section on this issue: Muammar Muhammad al-GaddafiJesus Jackson wrote: »... But, anytime you see this dude's name in print (whether it be in the newspaper, online or television) it's never spelled the same way twice... What I wanna know is WHY???Because of the lack of standardization of transliterating written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name was romanized in many different ways. Even though the Arabic spelling of a word does not change, the pronunciation may vary in different varieties of Arabic, which may suggest a different romanization. In literary Arabic the name معمر القذافي can be pronounced /muˈʕamːaru lqaðˈðaːfiː/. [ʕ] represents a voiced pharyngeal fricative (ع). Geminated consonants can be simplified. In Libyan Arabic, /q/ (ق) may be replaced with [ɡ] or [k] (or even [χ]); and /ð/ (ذ) (as "th" in "this") may be replaced with [d] or [t]. Vowel often alternates with [o] in pronunciation. Thus, /muˈʕamːar alqaðˈðaːfiː/ is normally pronounced in Libyan Arabic [muˈʕæmːɑrˤ əlɡædˈdæːfi]. The definite article al- (ال) is often omitted.
"Muammar Gaddafi" is the spelling used by TIME magazine, BBC News, the majority of the British press and by the English service of Al-Jazeera. The Associated Press, MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News use "Moammar Gadhafi". The Library of Congress uses "Qaddafi, Muammar" as the primary name. The Edinburgh Middle East Report uses "Mu'ammar Qaddafi" and the U.S. Department of State uses "Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi", although the White House chooses to use "Muammar el-Qaddafi". The Xinhua News Agency uses "Muammar Khaddafi" in its English reports. The New York Times uses "Muammar el-Qaddafi". The Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times of Tribune Company use "Moammar Kadafi".
In 1986, Gaddafi reportedly responded to a Minnesota school's letter in English using the spelling "Moammar El-Gadhafi". The title of the homepage of algathafi.org reads "Welcome to the official site of Muammar Al Gathafi".
An article published in the London Evening Standard in 2004 lists a total of 37 spellings of his name, while a 1986 column by The Straight Dope quotes a list of 32 spellings known at the Library of Congress.[209] ABC identified 112 possible spellings. This extensive confusion of naming was used as the subject of a segment of Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update on 12 December 1981. -
Wow... Now I'm even more confused... Thanks.
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There's a huge contrast in the method of pronunciation between Arabic and English. The latter uses a more simple and straightforward manner of pronouncing words.
Arabs put a strong emphasis of using the throat and tongue to pronounce words. This is how they differentiate between letters which may otherwise sound the same when transliterated to English.
Basically, with the name "Qaddafi" the letter ق is used, which may be pronounced as "qaa" while using the back of the throat. The proper way to prounounce "Qa" in Qaddafi would be in that manner. Since English doesn't use those same rules of pronunciations, you see Qaddafi and Ghaddafi being used interchangeably. -
And to directly answer your question, the correct spelling of his name is القذافي. : )
It doesn't matter how it is spelled in English, since it's not an English word to begin with. -
My point is this: Why is he the only one (seemingly) who has a zillion ways to spell his name in english??? For instance, Saddam Hussein's name isn't spelled differently every time you see it.... And that's not an english name, either.zulfiqar ali wrote: »And to directly answer your question, the correct spelling of his name is القذافي. : )
It doesn't matter how it is spelled in English, since it's not an English word to begin with. -
There's no letter in the english that sounds similar to "S". "Ga" and "Qa" sound pretty similar, so that's why both are used.
If you want to be technical, the closest way to accurately pronounce the Libyan President's name would be "Qaddafi", instead of "Gaddafi'. -
this is kind of an unnecessary position to take when it's likely the threadstarter is essentially wondering "what, if anything, is THE correct way to write it in English"zulfiqar ali wrote: »It doesn't matter how it is spelled in English, since it's not an English word to begin with. -
LOl its not just with qadhafi, I find it incredibly difficult to translate/write a lot of arabic names from arab to dutch/english, for example in english the u is the dutch oe, so a name like ibn battuta in english, is in dutch ibn battoeta etc, in the end the languege differences are just to big, there really is no real correct way of spelling words that are written in a totally different alphabet.
It would be much easier if you mofos started learning arabic in primary school;) -
It would be much easier if you mofos started learning arabic in primary school;)
agreed, amongst other things. -
i thought we all just agreed all non-US countries were just going to learn EnglishIt would be much easier if you mofos started learning arabic in primary school;)
