Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2017 May 7

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May 7

Ankhesenpaaten

Per Ankhesenamun, the name is translated as "Living for Amun", so for Aten I thought it would be Ankhesenaten, but the same article says "Ankhesenpaaten" instead. What the untranslated "pa" means in Ankhesenpaaten? Brandmeister^talk 14:13, 7 May 2017 (UTC)

Googling "what does pa mean in ancient egyptian" makes it apparent that "p(a)" is the equivalent of the definite article. So Ankhesenpaaten means "living for the Aten", which is also a translation given when I search google for "Ankhesenpaaten meaning".--William Thweatt ^TalkContribs 05:36, 8 May 2017 (UTC)

So the follow-up Q would be why the one name needs "the" in front and the other doesn't, like The Hague versus Warsaw. StuRat (talk) 03:32, 9 May 2017 (UTC)

In short Amun was an established deity while Aten had always just referred to the "sun disc" (the actual bright circle in the sky that rises and sets) and been merely an aspect of the god Ra. Amun was a name; Aten meant "sun disc" and could take the definite article. After the cult of Aten deified him in his own right, Aten could technically be used as a proper noun but is more often seen with the article such as in the Great Hymn to the Aten. The use of the article could also be because "Aten" is not his full name; his name is very long and ends with "...the light which is in the sun disc". "Notes on the Aten and His Names" is a good read if you are interested and have access.--William Thweatt ^TalkContribs 06:33, 9 May 2017 (UTC)

Thanks. Good info. StuRat (talk) 16:23, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

Word for "chimpanzee" in Arabic

This article indicates that "بعام" (baʿām) is a word for "chimpanzee", but I'm having trouble finding it in dictionaries. Is it used, and if so, what's the plural? --Lazar Taxon (talk) 19:09, 7 May 2017 (UTC)

Not listed in the Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. The only word I see in my dictionaries looks like a borrowing of "chimpanzee" through French. I doubt that there would have been any need for a word referring to chimpanzees specifically until the 19th century... AnonMoos (talk) 22:16, 7 May 2017 (UTC)

From its use on the Arabic Wikipedia I was thinking it might be an Arabic form of the genus "Pan", but it seems like a stretch for that to end up as "baʿām". Adam Bishop (talk) 01:34, 8 May 2017 (UTC)

Well, the biblical figure Ruth somehow ends up as راعوث in Arabic, but I doubt that there's any general process involved... -- AnonMoos (talk) 03:31, 8 May 2017 (UTC)

I'm not sure - did Arab slave trade reach the distribution space of chimpanzees, which goes up to the south-west of modern Mali? --KnightMove (talk) 05:29, 8 May 2017 (UTC)

Some online dictionaries have this words.[1][2] The plural is probably regular.--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 08:26, 8 May 2017 (UTC)

Arabic: Does رهم or رهام or راهم or راهام mean anything?

HOTmag (talk) 19:43, 7 May 2017 (UTC)

All that's listed in the Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic is رهم riham and رهام rihaam, alternative plurals of a noun meaning "drizzle". Of course, رحم is a root used to form well-known words with meanings related to "mercy", while درهم is a monetary term (originally a silver coin). AnonMoos (talk) 22:09, 7 May 2017 (UTC)

رهام has different meanings, depending on how you read it: rahäm, rohäm, rehäm. The first one means skinny sheep, the second one is 'a bird that doesn't prey', the third one is the plural of رهمة meaning drizzle. Omidinist (talk) 19:06, 8 May 2017 (UTC)

Do you know of any similar word in Arabic, meaning "plenty"? or "Crowd"? HOTmag (talk) 11:12, 10 May 2017 (UTC)

No. Omidinist (talk) 13:51, 10 May 2017 (UTC)