Ta Marboutah: Pronunciation and Transcription

As everyone knows, a ta marboutah at the end of a word makes it feminine, at least linguistically; e.g. a female Muslim is a Muslimah. The terminal h sound is subtle and often dropped in common speech. Also, some words are fixed as feminine or masculine, so one can't simply plop this ending down wherever one wants.

There are two valid pronunciations of this suffix Qur'anic Arabic: ah, and eh. The former is used in the cities of Egypt, in much of Arabia, and by the Bedouins of Jordan. The latter is used in the cities of Syria, and by the fallaheen of Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine. This latter pronunciation is considered incorrect by many people. It is, in fact, proper Arabic and can be found in a variant recitation of the Qur'an.

What is disturbing is that some feminine names that end in ta marboutah are now being written with an alif. For example, the names Reema and Lina are now written with an alif at the end instead of a ta marboutah. What might be happening here is that people hear the name, "Reema" and think, "It wasn't pronounced Reemeh, so it must be with an alif." My entire criticism of this approach is based on the assumption that one intends the Arabic names. If these names are transcriptions of foreign names, then my argument falls apart. However, what seems to give my argument strength is that if you ask an Arab lady named Reema or Lina the meaning of her name, she'll probably mention the Arabic meaning. If the Arabic meaning is intended, then spell it in Arabic!

Starting with Reema, the origin of the word is ri'm (رئم) with a glottal stop (hamza). It is a type of antelope. However, an unvoweled hamza in the middle of a word is often converted to the long vowel that matches the short (unwritten) vowel preceding it, so ri'm became reem, just like dhi'b (wolf) is pronounced dheeb in the Qur'anic recitation of Imam Warsh. The feminine form of the animal is ri'mah (رئمة) according to Lisan Al-Arab. Of course, it's possible to name a girl the generic or even masculine term: girls are named Iman and Huda all the time, so there is nothing wrong with naming a girl Reem. However, if the intent is to use the explicitly feminine form, then it needs to be transcribed with a ta marboutah as ريمة or رئمة but never ريما.

Similarly, the name Lina (لينة) refers to a small palm, or to a palm tree that is not of the 3ajwa variety. The word appears in the Qur'an. The transcription لينا has no basis in Arabic. If it's the transcription of a foreign name, then so be it. But if the intent is the Arabic word, then please spell it as such.

Not all women's names that end an alif are being misspelled: Haifa (هيفا) is actually correct, as it is the maqsour form of هيفاء, meaning a female with a slim abdomen. In Arabic, it is always permissible to drop the hamza that follows an alif at the end of a word. Similarly, Maha (مها) is correct if one intends by it the class of white antelopes or rock crystal (e.g. quartz). However, if one intends an individual white antelope, as many people do by this name, then it has to be transcribed مهاة.