Curious Name: Mālik
by Basil Dragonstrike
One somewhat troublesome name is Mālik particularly when macrons are
not used. This is because "Malik" is the word for "king". Clearly,
Mālik looks like it's related to Malik; but then, "Basil" is related
to the Greek word Basileus, yet no-one denies it's a personal name.
There are two general ways to write Arabic: vocalic and non-vocalic.
When something is written vocalically, someone who knows the rules
can pick it up and read it out loud---that is, vocalize it---with no
idea of the meaning, nor any familiarity with any of the words. This
is not possible with non-vocalic writting, however. In fact, if the
reader does not recognize the word, s/he will not know what is said.
Please note that most things written in Arabic use non-vocalic
writing; usually only learning materials, certain technical works,
and the Qurʼān, are writting vocalically. As well, foreign and
scientific/technical words may be written vocalically in a
non-vocalic work.
The difference comes from the fact that vocalic writing uses
tashkīl---diacritical marks--and non-vocalic doesn't. The tashkil
include marks for the short vowels1,
as well as some others, which don't concern us now.
Arabic, at least classic Arabic, has eight vowel sounds: the short
"a" as in "pat", the short "u" as in "put", the short "i" as in
"pit", the long "a" as in "father", the long "u" as in "rude", the
long "i" as in "machine", and two diphthongs, which have the sound
of "eye" and the sound of "ow". The diphthongs don't currently
concern us, either.
In vocalic writing the three short vowels are shown by tashkīl put
over the consonants they follow, while long vowels are shown by
those same tashkīl, plus the consonant+tashkīl being followed by
another letter. To be specific: long "i" is shown with the a
tashkīl-on-consonant followed by "yāʼ", which otherwise has the
sound of "y" in "yet". The long "u" is shown with the
tashkīl/consonant combo followed by "waw" which otherwise is the "w"
in "wet". And, the long "a" is the right tashkīl & consonant
followed by "alif" which doesn't actually have a sound of its own.
(NB: different tashkīl are used for different sounds.)2
So much for vocalic writing. In non-vocalic writting the tashkīl
are, of course, dropped. However, the following letters, that
indicate a long vowel, are not. So, in non-vocalic writing, the name
Mālik does not have the tashkīl, but does have "alif"---and Malik
(king) does not! That is, malik (king) in vocalic writing looks like
مَلِك
and in non-vocalic like
ملك
but Mālik (the name) in vocalic writing looks like
مَالِك
and in non-vocalic like
مالك
That is, malik and Mālik are, in non-vocalic writing, respectively
ملك and مالك
Thus, in Arabic "Mālik" and "Malik" cannot be confused. It is only
in languages that use the other alphabets this confusion can occur,
and only if macrons (or similar indicators) are not used.
So much for Mālik as a problem name!
Addendum: I have recently heard a name that I'd spell Malīk; "a" as
in "pat" and "i" as in "machine," with the emphasis on the second
syllable. It's sometimes spelled "Maleek". In Arabic, it would be
(vocalic) مَلِيك or (non-vocalic) مليك; these are both clearly different from
(vocalic) مَالِك and (non-vocalic) مالك. Since the name seems to be moderately
popular in some circles, I'm astonished I never heard of it. Very important note:
it is not a period name; it is not found before 1650. Based
on research, I conclude it was invented in the early or middle 20th century, probably by those whose native language was not Arabic.
Those who say it's the Arabic word for "king" are, as you realize by
now, entirely erroneous.
Return to
"Curious Names".
1 I am using "short" and "long,"
with regard to vowels, according to common usage, rather than the
more technical way linguists use the terms.
2 Note that words beginning with a
vowel use a varient on this system. Also note that there's another
way to show long "a", but it's very rare and doesn't concern us.