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DeviantlyD -> RE: Moammar Gadhafi's sons arrested (8/21/2011 11:03:38 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: HannahLynHeather
not quite termy.
quote:
The explanation, you may have read, is due to discrepancies transliterating Arabic. While true, this is not the whole story. Gaddafi (Google's most frequent spelling) is spelled القذافي in Arabic. The first letter "ق," qoph, is pronounced as a "k" sound and usually transliterated as a "q." Likewise, the second letter of his name, thal, "ذ," is pronounced as a deep "d" or "th" ("the" not "with") and transliterated "dh." Given these standardized spellings, the Libyan leader's name should be spelled "Qadhafi."
The reason the most common spelling of Gaddafi begins with a "g" is due to the Libyan dialect, which pronounces qoph like a "g" sound. English translations of Arabic leaders names generally are consistent with their local dialects, rather than standard translation. The best example of this would be late Egyptian leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser. His first name beginning with a jim "ج" would be traditionally transliterated Jamal. Instead, the Egyptian pronunciation of his name is the norm for English transliteration.
Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/02/23/how-do-you-spell-gaddafi-the-linguistics-behind-libyas-leader/#ixzz1VjMva088
so it would seem that both are right.
I'm only going by CNN's spelling. ;) I've seen a number of different ways to spell Libyan-despot's name and personally I don't care how it's spelled, but, as per your findings, there really is no one way. Gee, kinda like BDSM....there is no one "twue" way. :D
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