Re: Vowel variations in Arabic


Neeraj Mathur wrote:
> "Yusuf B Gursey" <ybg@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:1138670343.883805.177210@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


> >usually for a far away place name you woudl use an approximation to the
> >standard language.
>
> In theory, but we've already seen Syria and Lebanon, not to mention India,
> Delhi (rather than Dilli), Bombay, etc. which all seem to be based on the
> language through which they have come to English, rather than the local
> pronunciations.


I was talking about the pronounciation in Maghribi colloquial. Kuwait
was an unkown village until a British warship anchored off its coast
and made a deal with the local bigwig, c. 1900's.

the French woudl have heard about before the N. African Arabs did.

incidentally, it is the arabic diminutive of ku:t a rare word known in
arabic mainly in Iraq and environs meaning "fort" from Indic via
persian (ku:t / ko:t)

>
> Neeraj Mathur

.