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From: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
Subject: Re: terminal q
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 93 07:55:19 GMT

Gregory C Franklin (franklig@argon.gas.uug.arizona.edu writes: > > I have seen 10 different ways in the media to spell Libyan strongman
> > Muammar Kaddafi's name. It's quite confusing.

Ivan A Derzhanski (iad@cogsci.ed.ac.uk) writes: > I just saw it spelt as _Mohammer Q'udafi_ on the net (I won't tell you
> in which group, though, because the man who wrote it is a respectable
> chap in many ways). Is that one of the 10 different ways, or did
> Usenet beat the media again?

Yes, this appears to be a previously unknown spelling. :-)

In "More of the Straight Dope" (Ballantine, 1988, ISBN 0-345-35145-2), Cecil Adams first lists these 12:

Spelling Seen in

        Gadaafi           "I know I've seen it somewhere"
        Gadaffi           World Press Review
        Gaddafi           Time
        Kaddafi           Newsweek
        Khadafy           Maclean's, New Yorker
        Qadaffi           Business Week
        Qadafi            Business Week
        Qaddafi           New Republic, New Yorker
        Qaddhafi          New York Review of Books, Wall St. Journal
        Qadhafi           US News & World Report, Wall St. Journal
        Qadhdhafi         Middle East Studies Association
        Qathafi           Libyan UN delegation

And this is just for the surname. A 13th spelling turned up in 1986 when the gentleman himself answered a school class's letter and the typed name under the signature was "Moammar El-Gadhafi" -- many publications then adopted this.

Cecil also attributed the Qadhdhafi spelling to the Library of Congress, which prompted a letter pointing out that the LOC actually has *32* variations on the name in its records.

        Muammar              Gadafi
        Moamar               Gaddafi
        Moamar            al-Gaddafi
        Mo'ammar             Gadhafi
        Mo'ammar          el-Gadhafi
        Muammar              Ghadafi
        Muammar              Ghaddafi
        Muammar              Ghaddafy
        Muammar              Gheddafi
        Mu'amar           al-Kadafi
        Muammar              Kaddafi
        Muammar              Kaddafi
        Muamar            Al-Kaddafi
        Moamar            El Kadhafi
        Moammar           El Kadhafi
        Moamer            El Kazzafi
        Moammar              Khadafy
        Muammar              Khaddafi
        Muammar           al-Khaddafi
        Mu'ammar             Qadafi
        Mu'ammar          al-Qadafi
        Muammar              Qaddafi
        Mu'ammar          al-Qaddafi
        Muammar              Qadhafi
  M. A. Mu'ammar M. A. M. al-Qadhafi (*)
        Muammar           al-Qadhafi
        Mu'ammar             Qadhdhafi
        Mu'ammar          al-Qadhdhafi
        Mu'ammar          Al Qathafi
        Muammar           Al Qathafi
        Muammar              Quathafi
        Moammar              Qudhafi

(*) Abbreviated to initials to fit my tabular format. The full name is Mulazim Awwal Mu'ammar Muhammed Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi. If you must know.

The variations exist, of course, because of the presence of a number of non-English sounds in the name, and the existence of various transcription methods from Arabic. The initial Arabic consonant of the surname, qaf, according to Cecil is pronounced midway between English k and German ch as in Bach, but with a Libyan accent comes out more like a hard g. And so it goes.

I propose we start calling him "Al".
--
Mark Brader | "I think it's safe to say that no person can hope to SoftQuad Inc., Toronto | achieve basic life competence without consulting my utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com | work on a regular basis." -- Cecil Adams

This article is in the public domain.