The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #84356   Message #1557261
Posted By: Wilfried Schaum
06-Sep-05 - 04:09 AM
Thread Name: BS: US personal names
Subject: RE: BS: US personal names
Azizi - Shakil I don't find in my Arab dictionary, only Shakila = cocotte.
The stem shakl has nothing to do with beauty, but with doubt, difficulties, forms and shackling.
It is not a variant of Shakeel; ee is used in English orthography for the long i (as in beer) instead of the original to avoid a mispronunciation (as in I) since the days of the Raj.

Latititia has no prefix la-; it is part of the root. Originally Latin laetitia = cheerfulness.

I can understand that African Americans are fed up with the classical names (Scipio, Cicero et al.) given to their ancestors by their slavedrivers, but why should they change to the names given by another bunch of former slavedrivers? I've met so many Africans at university with fine genuine African names.

And the prize for the silliest orthography, in my humble opinion, goes to the name Condoleezza (sort of rice?)