In English, his (assumedly Latin) papal name is translated into English names. So something (presumably) approaching Johannes Paulus Secundus (sp?) is translated into “John Paul the Second”.
Is this pretty much the pattern in all European languages? In Spain, was he Juan Pablo el Segundo? In France, Jean-Paul le Deuxième? In Russian, Иван Павел Второй (Ivan Pavel Vtoroi)?
How was this name rendered in non-European languages such as Arabic, Farsi, Chinese, and Japanese?
I should add that I am aware that in almost all cases, the Roman numeral II would be used in place of “the Second”, regardless of language. I am interested in how the full name and number is pronounced orally.
I happened to see a Polish-language news website that referred to him as Jan Pawel II.
Whe I was watching the Italian news there was a scroll across the screen and they referred to him as Giovanni Paulo. (I don’t speak Italian so my spelling may be off.)
Actually, just Juan Pablo Segundo (the article is not necessary in this case). There is a street here in Panama City named Juan Pablo II.
[QUOTE=bordelond]
I should add that I am aware that in almost all cases, the Roman numeral II would be used in place of “the Second”, regardless of language.
[QUOTE]
And after I typed that, I found a Romanian news site which demonstrates that sometimes the Roman numeral gets an add-on. In Romanian, the late Pope was Ioan Paul al II-lea.
I linked to this catalog listing in the other pope names thread. It shows JP2’s names in many languages, although without identifying those languages.
Thanks. I took that particular stab because the name spoken out in English does have a definite article.
I saw a Greek online newspaper apparently render the name as “Τζοβάνι-Πάολο” (Tzovani-Paolo), which would seem to basically spell out the Italian version of the name in Greek orthography. I’d have expected Greek media to use Greek version of the names.
A quick google search turns up
约翰•保罗二世
Which is basically a phonetic translation of “John Paul II”.
How’d you Google that?
OK, let’s look at your link and see what we got here. Thanks to Google, I can identify these conclusively:
Latin - Ioannes Paulus PP. II
Vietnamese - Gioan Phaoloâ II
Italian - Giovanni Paolo II
Romanian - Ioan Paul al II-ea
Croatian - Ivan Pavao II.
Czech - Jan Pavel II.
Slovak - Ján Pavol II
Polish - Jan Pawel II
Slovenian - Janez Pavel II.
Hungarian - János Pál II.
French - Jean-Paul II
Portugese - João Paulo II
Finnish - Johannes Paavali II
German - Johannes Paul II.
Dutch - Johannes Paulus II
Spanish - Juan Pablo II
BBC’s international websites seem to be a good source for Western languages. I can add Bulgarian to the list: Йоан Павел Втори (Ioan Pavel Vtori).
Not so easy to find Asian references, though.
Another Greek rendition: Ιωάννη Παύλο B’ (Ioanni Paulo II), where the "B’ " stands for the Roman numeral II.
Albanian: Gjon Palit të Dytë
Correct. This would be pronounced as “Johannes Paavali toinen”.
Danish and Norwegian also use that.
This is also the Swedish form. A Swede would probably say “Johannes Paulus den andre”.
In Korean it appears to be
바오로 2세
Basically, it’s just Paul the 2nd. Actually a little closer to Pa-oh-roh.
In Urdu, it would be pronounced as “Jaan Paal Do’em” (“do’em” meaning “second”).
According to BBC Hindi, he is known as “Jon Pol Dviteey” (“dviteey” meaning “second”).
WRS
In Romanian, though, the adjective when present, and the last word of a compound noun, bears the suffix that functions as a case marker (it’s actually a modified article placed in post-position). So this is not odd in Romanian.
Your first version would be the transliteration of his name in Italian into the Greek alphabet; the second, the actual Greek rendering of his name.