Kunya

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The Kunya ( Arabic كنية) is next to the Ism (actual name), the Nasab and the Nisba one of the four essential components of the Arabic personal name . It identifies the bearer of the name as the "father of so-and-so" (Abū ...) or the name bearer as the "mother of so-and-so " (Umm ...) and is therefore a typical Teknonym . In the arrangement of the name components, the Kunya usually appears first, which is why Gottfried Kosegarten translated the term as “first name”.

Originally the kunya was based on the name of the eldest son, so the caliph Umar ibn al-Chattab had the Kunya Abū ʿAbdallāh after his son ʿAbdallāh , and the Prophet Mohammed was named after his first son al-Qāsim Abū al-Qāsim . From the first generations, however, some men are known whose kunya refers to a female name. The sons name could be replaced by a noun that emphasized a special attribute of the name bearer (e.g. Abū Shāma "the one with the birthmark" or Abū Huraira , "the one with the kitten"). Later the kunya was often used to express wishes for the bearer of the name or to bring blessings to him. An example of this is the Kunya Abū l-Faraj ("Father of Joy"), which, for example, the well-known Arab historiographer Abū l-Faraj al-Isfahānī wore.

For some people the Kunya name was so important that it pushed the Ism name into the background and let it fall into oblivion. Well-known examples of this were Abū Tālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muttalib , Abū Lahab and the prophet's companion Umm Sulaim, for whom it was not known whether her real name was Rumaisāʾ, Ghumaisāʾ, Rumaitha, Rumaila, Sahla or Anīfa.

The background for the origin of the Kunya name is not entirely clear. It is assumed that the naming taboo, which was widespread among primitive peoples, played a role here. The kunya would therefore be a means of avoiding the use of the actual name (ism) on a person. This is also indicated by the Arabic word kunya itself, which is derived from the same root as kināya ("allusion, indirect expression").

Addressing a person with the kunya was always considered to be a tribute, just as conversely it was considered impolite to use the kunya when speaking of oneself. As an honorific designation, the kunya was initially reserved for “pure” Arabs; it was not until the Abbasid period that non-Muslims who had become Mawālī of Arab tribes were also allowed to wear it. Some people had two kunyas, one for war and one for peace.

Kunya names were later put together in their own dictionaries. An example is the Kitāb al-Kunā ("Book of Kunya Designations") by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj . Some kunyas were so popular that they became an ism name. The best-known example is the Ism Abū Bakr , which is derived from the Kunya of the first caliph Abu Bakr , whose actual Ism ʿAbdallāh was. Other Kunya designations have sparked theological discussions such as Abū ʿĪsā ("Father of Jesus"), since, as according to Christian teaching, even according to the Islamic view, Jesus does not have a human father. For some of the bearers of this kunya, the kunya was subsequently changed to Abū ʿAbdallāh. Mohammed's Kunya Abū l-Qāsim caused even greater problems because there was a prophetic word that said: "Use my ism name, but not my kunya" (sammū bi-smī wa-lā tukannū bi-kunyatī) . Since Abū l-Qāsim was a very popular kunya, the hadith has mostly been adapted to reality in such a way that one derived from it only the prohibition of the combination of the Kunya Abū l-Qāsim and the Ism Muhammad in one person.

In addition, many animals, plants, places and foods are referred to with a kunya. An example of a Kunya toponym is the name Abū Qubais for the local mountain of Mecca .

In modern Arabic usage, the term kunya has undergone a change in meaning as it has become the general name for a family name .

literature

  • Albert Dietrich : The kunya dictionary of the Muslim ibn al-Ḥaǧǧāǧ. In: Erwin Gräf (Ed.): Festschrift Werner Caskel. On his 70th birthday, March 5, 1966, dedicated by friends and students. Brill, Leiden 1968, pp. 43-52.
  • Herbert Eisenstein : Classical Arabic Kunya names for animals (= Viennese magazine for the customer of the Orient. New supplements. 5). Lit-Verlag, Vienna et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-7000-0713-5 .
  • Ignaz Goldziher : Legal Provisions on Kunja Names in Islam. In: Journal of the German Oriental Society. Vol. 51, 1897, ISSN  0341-0137 , pp. 256-266, digitized .
  • Johann Gottfried Ludwig Kosegarten : About the first name or the Kunje of the Arabs. In: magazine for the customer of the Orient. Vol. 1, 1837, pp. 297-312, digitized .
  • Annemarie Schimmel : From Ali to Zahra. Names and naming in the Islamic world (= Diederichs yellow row. 102 Islam ). Diederichs, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-424-00969-5 , pp. 24-32.
  • Anton Spitaler : Contributions to the knowledge of kunya naming. In: Erwin Gräf (Ed.): Festschrift Werner Caskel. On his 70th birthday, March 5, 1966, dedicated by friends and students. Brill, Leiden 1968, pp. 336-350.
  • Geert Jan van Gelder: Edible Fathers and Mothers: Arabic kunyas used for food. In: Manuela Marín, Cristina de la Puente (ed.): El banquete de las Palabras: La alimentacion en los textos árabes (= Estudios árabes e islámicos. Monografías. Vol. 10). Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid 2005, ISBN 84-00-08337-7 , pp. 105-120.
  • Arent Jan Wensinck : Kunya. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam . New Edition. Volume 5: Khe - Mahi. Brill et al., Leiden et al. 1986, ISBN 90-04-07819-3 , pp. 395b-396b.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Schimmel: From Ali to Zahra. 1993, p. 24.
  2. ↑ See Schimmel: From Ali to Zahra. 1993, p. 27.
  3. ↑ See dazuair ad-Dīn az-Zirikli: al-Aʿlām. Volume 3rd, 10th edition. Dār al-ʻilm lil-malāyīn, Beirut 1992, p. 33c.
  4. ↑ See Wensinck: Kunya. 1986, 395b.
  5. ↑ Cf. Ignaz Goldziher: Muhammedanische Studien. Theil 1. Niemeyer, Halle 1888, p. 267 .
  6. ↑ See Schimmel: From Ali to Zahra. 1993, p. 25.
  7. ↑ See Schimmel: From Ali to Zahra. 1993, p. 26.
  8. ↑ See Schimmel: From Ali to Zahra. 1993, p. 27.
  9. ↑ See Goldziher: Legal provisions on Kunja names in Islam. 1897, pp. 256-266, here p. 259 f.
  10. ↑ Cf. Goldziher: Legal provisions on Kunja names in Islam. 1897, pp. 256-266, here pp. 261-263.