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Red Sea Sharks: Should the name "Ben Kalish" be "Bin Kalish"...?

tintinspartan
Member

#1 · Posted: 26 Apr 2007 08:51

In the name Emir Ben Kalish Ezab the 'Ben' was a mistake. The actual word should be 'Bin'.

jock123
Moderator

#2 · Posted: 26 Apr 2007 19:40

tintinspartan
The 'Ben' was a mistake. The actual word should be 'Bin'
Is there a way to tell why you think this was a mistake?
It would be interesting to know if you have a reason.
There isn't a standard way of transliterating Arabic into English, so "ben" and "bin" can get swapped around, and in France they use Oussama Ben Laden, so perhaps it was correct usage to Hergé and other Belgians of his time?
You also get President Zine al-Abidine Ben-Ali of Tunisia, who is always Ben-Ali, never bin.

tintinspartan
Member

#3 · Posted: 27 Apr 2007 07:35

Well, take this for example.
Omar Bin Alktab
Well, In Islam, Bin was an indication of whether it is male or female, and it's follow by the person's father's name.

Bin: Boy, Man, Son
Binte: Girl, Woman, Daughter

jock123
Moderator

#4 · Posted: 27 Apr 2007 10:36

tintinspartan
Well, take this for example.
I don"t follow your point - my question was why do you think ben was wrong and bin is right, when both are used to represent the same thing (son of) in English (and other) transliterations of Arabic?
You suggested that Hergé was wrong to put ben Kalish, and I was just wondering if you had some technical reason why you thought this, when as I said, both are used when writing Arabic names into English and other languages.

tintinspartan
Member

#5 · Posted: 29 Apr 2007 19:43

Oh boy, I'm pretty confused now!

jock123
Moderator

#6 · Posted: 29 Apr 2007 19:54

tintinspartan
Oh boy, I'm pretty confused now!
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to confuse you, but you did start the topic...!
You said in your intial statement that ben was wrong, and bin was correct: all I want to know is your reason for saying this, when both can be found being used, even in the present day?

Thanks!

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