Kunya (Arabic)
A
kunya is an
Arabic honorific.
A
kunya is a type of epithet widely used instead of first names throughout the
Arab world. It refers to the bearer's first-born son, with
abū (father) or
umm (mother) preceding the son's name, in a
genitive construction (the
iđāfa). The
English equivalent would be to call someone whose eldest son is named John "Father of John." Use of the
kunya normally signifies some closeness between the speaker and the person so addressed but is more polite than use of the first name. The
kunya is also frequently used with reference to politicians and other celebrities to indicate respect.
For example,
Mahmoud Abbas, the
Palestinian President, is often referred to as "
Abu Mazen". This refers to his first-born son, Mazen. While Mazen died in 2002, Abbas still retains the name. His wife is accordingly called "Umm Mazen".
Men who do not yet have a child are often nevertheless addressed by a made-up
kunya, often the name of their father. Thus, the son of a man named George will often be known to his friends as "Abu George" until such time as he has a son.
When using a person's full name, the
kunya will precede the proper name. Thus:
abū māzin maħmūd, for "Mahmud, the father of Mazen". In
Classical Arabic, but not in any of the spoken dialects,
abū can change into the forms
abā and
abī (
accusative and genitive, respectively), depending on the position of the
kunya in the sentence.
The kunya is also sometimes used metaphorically rather than literally. A modern example would be the
Filipino militant group
Abu Sayyaf. The word
sayyaf means "
sword", so "Father of the Sword" signifies the group's belligerent charter.
A special practice evolved among
Palestinian leaders, originally in the
Fatah faction (of which Abbas is part), to use real or fictional
kunyas as
noms de guerre in their struggle against
Israel.
For example,
Yassir Arafat was known by the name
Abu Ammar (
abū `ammār), even though he never had a son named Ammar.
Ammar was an early companion of the
Prophet Muhammad, but the
grammatical root `ayn-mīm-rā also revolves around activities of rebuilding, repopulating, constructing or causing an area to prosper; thus a suitable name for a man who, in his view, intended to recreate a Palestinian homeland. Another theory connects the name with Arafat's work as a construction
engineer (
muhandis `ammār) in
Kuwait, at the time he took the name.
This usage of the kunya has gained currency outside of the Palestinian movement, and is now often used by Arab guerrillas and clandestine operators. Examples of this include the Lebanese leaders
Abu Anis (used by
George Hawi during the
Lebanese Civil War) and
Abu Arz (
Etienne Saqr).
*
Arabic name*
Abd*
Abu*
Page on Arabic naming practices.''
