"Barack"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 8:01 AM, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 2:13 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Did anyone else notice that Obama himself has said that his name means
> > "blessed" and not "lightning"? I don't know enough Semitic, uh,
> > Semetic, to know whether he's be right or whether his father made a
> > mistake.
>
> No mistake. As I wrote on Aug. 20, in response to your "Hi!" post...
>
> There are two different Semitic roots: "Barack" (as in Obama) and
> "baruch" derive from B-R-K 'bless', while "Barak" (as in Ehud) and
> "Barca" derive from B-R-Q 'lightning'. For more on this, see my two
> Language Log posts:
>
> http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004187.html
> http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004196.html

Coincidentally enough, this appeared online today:

----
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2008/08/barack_thy_name_is_biblical.html
The African "Barack" originates from the Arabic word "baracka." Barack
and "baracka" mean the same as the Hebrew word "baruch," as Obama
himself noted in his 1995 memoir, "Dreams from My Father," and at
recent campaign appearances.
Famous historical figures with derivations of that name are
philosopher Baruch Spinoza, philanthropist Bernard Baruch and Pope
Benedict XVI -- "Benedict" is the Latinized form of Baruch.
Despite their similar sounds, Barack has a different linguistic root
than Barak, the last name of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak,
which means "lightning" in Hebrew.
----


--Ben Zimmer

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