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Does anyone know the meaning of the name Saddam? I came with it from the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein who attacked Kuwait on 1990 and was defeated by the USA and the UN in 1991.
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Saddam means "he who confronts" or "he who opposes" ,i.e. he who stands against" referring to an enemy.
It is the same root meaning as the Hebrew word Satan. When pronounced back-to-back, the derivation is quite stricking (given the proper pronounciation of Satan which is actually Sey-Tan' with the accent on the final syllable.
e.g. "Sey-Dam'" cp. "Sey-Tan'"
It is the same root meaning as the Hebrew word Satan. When pronounced back-to-back, the derivation is quite stricking (given the proper pronounciation of Satan which is actually Sey-Tan' with the accent on the final syllable.
e.g. "Sey-Dam'" cp. "Sey-Tan'"
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Sorry, I don't know the meaning. The name doesn't appear on any Arabic lists I've checked, but it could well derive from another Middle Eastern language.
I did want to note that many people at the time of the 1991 Gulf War were a little puzzled at George Bush's persistent pronunciation of the Iraqi dictator's name as SOD-um instead of the more conventional sah-DOM.
Now, Ol' George may have been a bit disconnected at times, but he certainly wasn't uneducated or stupid. So, I eventually concluded that it was deliberate and he did it for its insulting resemblance to "Sodom" and "sodomite". But maybe not...
Several years later, I heard what I considered a reliable political "expert" (can't remember who) on public TV comment that the pronunciation WAS deliberately insulting, but that SOD-um (spelling unknown) was a legitimate Iraqi word or slang term meaning "shoeshine boy". So GHWB WAS putting him down, but not in a way that was obvious to Westerners.
Anyone out there know if there's any validity to this explanation?
- Da.
I did want to note that many people at the time of the 1991 Gulf War were a little puzzled at George Bush's persistent pronunciation of the Iraqi dictator's name as SOD-um instead of the more conventional sah-DOM.
Now, Ol' George may have been a bit disconnected at times, but he certainly wasn't uneducated or stupid. So, I eventually concluded that it was deliberate and he did it for its insulting resemblance to "Sodom" and "sodomite". But maybe not...
Several years later, I heard what I considered a reliable political "expert" (can't remember who) on public TV comment that the pronunciation WAS deliberately insulting, but that SOD-um (spelling unknown) was a legitimate Iraqi word or slang term meaning "shoeshine boy". So GHWB WAS putting him down, but not in a way that was obvious to Westerners.
Anyone out there know if there's any validity to this explanation?
- Da.
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when pronounced SAD-um(like adam with an s at the beginning) the name is a name meaning satan in a Mid-Eastern Language or dialect, I was taught this from a Mid-Eastern scholar. And pronounced the other way it means powerful ruler
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