OK, this is way out of my league, but I’ll give the facts as I understand them:
Saddam Hussein’s “first” name in Arabic basically translates to “Crusher.”
I am more-or-less familiar with the tri-consonantal root conventions in Arabic.
Someone somewhere produced a canard that Bush 41’s [sup]1[/sup]less accurate pronunciation meant various demeaning things. This question has come up a number of times, and [sup]2[/sup]some threads might still exist if they haven’t been deleted.
However, there are some sounds in Arabic that might sound similar enough to a non-speaker that various combinations might actually mean something other than “Crusher.” So, there could be Arabic words that sound similar enough to an non-speaker that could mean
The likely consonants in question for mispronunciations of Saddam’s name would then be [sup]3[/sup](sīn/sād, dāl/dād, mīm)
This leads to combinations of
(sād dāl mīm) (I think this is the actual consonant root in his name)
(sād dād mīm)
(sīn dāl mīm)
(sīn dād mīm)
The questions:
Allowing that one of the four mentioned above (if not the one that I picked) translate as earlier indicated, do the other three roots form any meaningful words in Arabic?
Was Saddam ever a common name in Arabic countries? Is there any indication that he might have had a different name as a child, and he picked the name “Saddam” (assuming it translates as “Crusher”) later on to reflect his forceful personality?
[sup]1[/sup]I say “less accurate” because I suspect that the common English pronunciation is not exactly what an Arabic speaker would use.
[sup]2[/sup]And this is not a rehash of that question.
[sup]3[/sup]I apologize for the spellings of the Arabic letters, but that was as close as I could get.