Barhoush

[pychicot]

Hello all,

This is another name (maybe Arabic).
How to pronouce it?

Barhoush

バルハウシュis okay?

Thanks in advance.
Keiko Kurihara

[Alan Siegrist]

Keiko Kurihara writes:

> Barhoush
>
> バルハウシュis okay?

I do think this is an Arabic name. My guess would be:
バルーシュ

You can play around with pronouncing Arabic letters here:
http://transliteration.org/Quran/Pronunciation/Letters/TashP.htm

My assumption in the guess above is that "rhou" in the name is intended to
represent the consonant "r" and the long vowel "u". There is no "rh" as a
consonant on the page above.

Hopefully someone that does speak Arabic will chime in and set us straight.

Regards,

Alan Siegrist
Carmel, CA, USA

[jmarc...@comcast.net]

Keiko Kurihara asked:

> Barhoush
>
> バルハウシュis okay?


And Alan repsonded:

I do think this is an Arabic name. My guess would be:
バルーシュ

You can play around with pronouncing Arabic letters here:
http://transliteration.org/Quran/Pronunciation/Letters/TashP.htm

My assumption in the guess above is that "rhou" in the name is intended to
represent the consonant "r" and the long vowel "u". There is no "rh" as a
consonant on the page above.

Hopefully someone that does speak Arabic will chime in and set us straight.

Keiko,

Based on two years of college Arabic, I think Alan's surmise is close but not correct. He is correct in that Barhoush is indeed an Arabic name, or perhaps a North African one, and sometimes appears as "Barhush". Interestingly, it is the name of a breed of dog in North Africa; http://www.sloughiman.net/saluqi.html. But I also think that the "h" in this name is in fact pronounced. So the best you can do in Japanese is probably something like バルフーシュ.

The "ou" sound in transliteration of Arabic names generally stands for a pure "ooh" sound, as in "oohs and aahs of the crowd". One reason for this may be that many countries in the Middle East and the Maghreb were colonized by French, and "ou" has this sound in French (and is distinguished from the French "u", which does not appear in Arabic). For example, there is the historian Albert Hourani; I have always heard his name pronounced "Hoorani", with a pure "ooh" sound, but never "Howrani", with a dipthong for the "ou".

Finally, the dipthong "ou" (= "ow") in English is generally represented as "au" or "aw" in the transliteration of Arabic names into English, for example, "Saudi".

All that said, be aware that there are lots of regional variations in the pronunciation of Arabic, and also a huge gap between the pronunciation of classical Arabic and those of the various modern dialects of that language.

HTH,


John Marchioro

[pychicot]

Thank you for detailed explanation.
The site mentioned looks very useful.
I appreciate all the help.

Keiko Kurihara

[Marc Adler]

On Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 7:00 AM, <jmarc...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> is in fact pronounced. So the best you can do in Japanese is probably something like バルフーシュ.

This is correct. "-ouche/-ush" is a common ending for Berber names.
Also, the 'h' is pronounced in Arabic.

> The "ou" sound in transliteration of Arabic names generally stands for a pure "ooh" sound, as in "oohs and aahs of the crowd". One reason for this may be that many countries in the Middle East and the Maghreb were colonized by French, and "ou" has this sound in French (and is distinguished from the French "u", which does not appear in Arabic).

Transliteration depends on the colonizer. In general, francophone
countries use 'ch,' 'ou,' and final 'e.' Anglophone countries use
'sh,' 'u,' and no final e. This accounts for differences in
transliterations of the same Arabic name, e.g., Houssein/Hussein.

> Finally, the dipthong "ou" (= "ow") in English is generally represented as "au" or "aw" in the transliteration of Arabic names into English, for example, "Saudi".

It's almost always 'aw.' "Saudi" is deceptive because there is
actually a laryngeal consonant between the 'a' and 'u,' which is why
you can sometimes see it written "Sa'udi." (سعودي).

> All that said, be aware that there are lots of regional variations in the pronunciation of Arabic, and also a huge gap between the pronunciation of classical Arabic and those of the various modern dialects of that language.

Names are generally transliterated according to classical
pronunciation, with the one exception of the 'ai'/'ei' diphthong,
which is 'ai' in classical, but can go either way in transliteration,
e.g., Kuwait, Beirut, Bahrain, etc.

--
Marc Adler
www.adlerpacific.com
nirebloga.wordpress.com
mudawwanatii.wordpress.com
blogsheli.wordpress.com

[jmarc...@comcast.net]

I wrote:

> Finally, the dipthong "ou" (= "ow") in English is generally represented as "au" or "aw" in the transliteration of Arabic names into English, for example, "Saudi".

And Marc responded:

It's almost always 'aw.' "Saudi" is deceptive because there is
actually a laryngeal consonant between the 'a' and 'u,' which is why
you can sometimes see it written "Sa'udi." (سعودي).

I stand corrected. I knew that, but it has been 20+ years since I studied this stuff, and some dust and clutter has accumulated as a result. Thanks, Marc.

A better example here is the common name "Mawdud" (meaning "dear" or "beloved"). The "aw" corresponds to English "aw".


John Marchioro

[jmarc...@comcast.net]

Ooopppssss! I wrote:

A better example here is the common name "Mawdud" (meaning "dear" or "beloved"). The "aw" corresponds to English "aw".

And I meant of course that it corresponds to the English "ow", as in "Ouch! Another typo"!!!



John Marchioro

[Anthony Bryant]

On Nov 3, 2009, at 8:00 AM, jmarc...@comcast.net wrote:

> Based on two years of college Arabic, I think Alan's surmise is
> close but not correct. He is correct in that Barhoush is indeed an
> Arabic name, or perhaps a North African one, and sometimes appears
> as "Barhush". Interestingly, it is the name of a breed of dog in
> North Africa;http://www.sloughiman.net/saluqi.html. But I also think
> that the "h" in this name is in fact pronounced. So the best you can
> do in Japanese is probably something like バルフーシュ.
>
> The "ou" sound in transliteration of Arabic names generally stands
> for a pure "ooh" sound, as in "oohs and aahs of the crowd". One
> reason for this may be that many countries in the Middle East and
> the Maghreb were colonized by French, and "ou" has this sound in
> French (and is distinguished from the French "u", which does not
> appear in Arabic). For example, there is the historian Albert
> Hourani; I have always heard his name pronounced "Hoorani", with a
> pure "ooh" sound, but never "Howrani", with a dipthong for the "ou".
>
> Finally, the dipthong "ou" (= "ow") in English is generally
> represented as "au" or "aw" in the transliteration of Arabic names
> into English, for example, "Saudi".
>
> All that said, be aware that there are lots of regional variations
> in the pronunciation of Arabic, and also a huge gap between the
> pronunciation of classical Arabic and those of the various modern
> dialects of that language.

I just want to second what John has said here. バルフーシュ is
how I would render that name in katakana.

(For the record, I'm Lebanese on my mother's side and still speak a
little -- VERY little -- Arabic.)

Tony