Arabian supplement : hard-to-pronounce names?

How should I convey Arabic names?

  • Direct Transliteration - most accurate, but potentially the hardest on the reader

    Votes: 22 43.1%

  • Include an English translation/equivalent of the word in parenthesis

    Votes: 23 45.1%

  • Include phonetic pronunciation guides in parenthesis

    Votes: 14 27.5%

  • Include phonetic pronunciation guides in a glossary/index/appendix

    Votes: 21 41.2%

  • Use only the English forms of the words, but use Arabic if no English form exists

    Votes: 3 5.9%

  • Use only the English forms of the words; make up a simplified form of the word if none exists.

    Votes: 1 2.0%

  • When creating NPCs, give them basically realistic names

    Votes: 15 29.4%

  • When creating NPC, give them names which are as simple as possible

    Votes: 7 13.7%

  • Just call them all Bruce.

    Votes: 3 5.9%

  • Other (Please Comment Below)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

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I'm not sure of the schedule - it's a supplement to the core Earth 1066 book, which comes out next year.

It will cover the eastern Mediterranean: Venice, Byzantium, Seljuk Empire, and the Fatimid Caliphate, among others. I'm working on it with two other guys. Other than that, I'm afraid I can't say too much ;)
 


Fade said:
Personally, I think reading strange Arabian books with unpronounceable names in them is a bad idea. :)
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Then one certainly shouldn't visit a particular private library in Dimashq (Damascus) as detailed in this supplement. If one did, one might accidentally run across a certain book written by a certain mad arab who met a very nasty end about 350 years earlier.

["Abdul al-Hazred" is not a particularly authentic Arabic name, but I'll leave it alone anyway ;)]
 
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["Abdul al-Hazred" in not a particularly authentic Arabic name, but I'll leave it alone anyway ]
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According to some of Chaosium's books, the name is a corrupted version of Abd al-Azrad, which would be "servant of Azrad", I think. Whoever he is.

According to Lovecraft, the name came to him in a dream. So take that for what you will. :cool:

Oh, and I'm with the group that thinks you should give parenthetical Anglicized spellings, and some sort of guide in the back (a page or so would probably do it). You might also want to include some translations for specific colorful NPCs that you plan to include, such as "Fuad the Jackal" or something like that.
 

Maerdwyn said:
["Abdul al-Hazred" is not a particularly authentic Arabic name, but I'll leave it alone anyway ;)]
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Abd Al-Hazarat. Translates out to "slave of the Presences", roughly.

Hey. what's that buzzing noise....?
 

shadow said:
http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/fullchart.html
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(unvoiced labiodental fricative) you for reminding me of that stuff. ;) I have my Grade 9 Speech Arts certificate from the RCM, and I never want to see the IPA again (handy though it is). ;)

Edit: although I'd have to say, it's probably best for the issue at hand... I'd also favor the appendix with pronunciation guides and anglicized versions for comparison.

--Impeesa--
 
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Maerdwyn said:
What level of simplification of Arabic terms and terms would you prefer if you were to use such a supplement?
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I would want the Arabic names. As long as you also include an appendix with a guide on pronunciation and possible English equivalents for places and major historical rulers.

Do you know of an English-Arabic-English dictionary that will give the Arabic transliterated? I'm introducing Mongoose Publishing's Star Magic into my game in a few sessions and I want to use Arabic names for the stars. A print source is nice, an online source is even better.
 

Transliterated, no I'm afraid not. There are a few online English-Arabic dictionaries, but those would only help if you also wanted to learn the Arabic alphabet.

Depending on the volume, I'd be happy to help you out with some, translation/ transliteration, however.
 

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