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Official
photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama
Barack
– it is the given name of the 44th and incumbent president of the
United States. It seems like an uncommon name for someone from the United
States. It is not an English name, but a name that has origins in Swahili,
Hebrew and Arabic. Barack Hussein Obama, the full name of the U.S. President,
came from his father, Barack Senior. Mr. Obama Senior was a government
official, who held the position of senior economist in the Kenyan government.
One word,
different meanings in different languages
Barack
or Baraka, spelled as Bārak in the Arabic language, is a variant of the name Mubarak or Mubārak,
its spelling in Arabic. Mubarak and its variants are Arabic given names, which
translate to “the blessed one” in English, and is suggestive of the Latin word,
Benedict, meaning blessed.
Tracing its etymological origin,
the word Barack came from three consonantal roots, the letters B, R
and K, which means a body part, the knee. Taking it further, the
three consonants become a verbal description of the act of prostrating oneself.
And when you say that someone is prostrating oneself, it translates to the
simpler and more common description, that of kneeling down “to receive
blessing” from an elder or a person of higher authority, like a religious
person or the head of a tribe or king or queen. Conversely, the feminine
equivalent of the word Barack or Baraka is “barakah,” which means “blessing”
when you translate it to English.
In Swahili, one of the official
languages spoken in Kenya, in East Africa, the word Barack is more commonly
spelled as Barak. The name translates to “blessing,” and may also mean
“abundance” or “prosperity.” From Arabic where the name translates to
“blessed,” “fortunate” and “lucky,” it was adapted into the Swahili language.
Therefore the meanings of the word in the two languages overlap, just like some
religious ideas. Take for example the holy water. For Christians and Islam
practitioners, the holy water is meant to ward off evil. While the Christians
spray holy water on objects and people that are being blessed. Muslims,
particularly during a pilgrimage in Mecca, drink the water from the Zamzam well
and many take some of the water home, believing the water to be very holy.
Islam has an inner and mystical
dimension called Sufism. Adherents of Sufism define this as the science of
preparing the heart by turning it away from everything but Allah. And in
Sufism, “charisma” is the closest translation to the word Barack or
Baraka. Baraka means a flow of grace and
blessings from God to those who are very close to God, which include prophets
and saints. Baraka, when received, gives the recipient the ability to make
miracles, which translates to karamat in Arabic. Well-known Sufi mystic
Abd al-Kārim ibn Hawāzin Qushayri clarified that even if saints were able to
perform miracles, it doesn’t indicate the status of the saints but these acts
could help establish better credentials for them.
In Judaism, the word related to
Barak is berakhah, which also translates to “blessing” and “bounty.” But
in this context, the word is not a state but a form of prayer, usually recited
at a particular time during an activity or a ceremony. It includes activities
such as when blessing fragrances and food, when blessings are recited to show
gratitude or give praise or when a commandment is performed. The word “amen” is
the usual answer to the berakhah.
On the other hand, Barak, in the
Hebrew language translates to “lightning.” In the context of President Obama’s
name, though, this is not the translation that should be used when translating
and finding the meaning of the president’s name. However, it is related to the
Hebrew name Baruch, a Biblical name, which is mentioned, ironically, not in the
Hebrew Bible but in the Vulgate Bible as well as in the Septuagint, and
included as Book of Baruch or Baruch 1. The Baruch mentioned in the Bible was
given the full name of Baruch ben Neriah, a disciple and
scribe as well as a devoted friend of Jeremiah, a Biblical prophet. He was of
noble birth. He wrote and closely adhered to the prophesies of Jeremiah.
Baraka is a very old name that has its origin in
Ancient Egypt. During the time when the Old Kingdom ruled, the word ba translated to “soul” while ra was the word for the “sun” and ka translated to “manifestation” or soul
double. The oldest meaning of Baraka
therefore is soul double of the sun,
and this is where the name Barak or Barack came from. This is related to the reason the Hebrew term
Barak translates to “thunder,” which follows lightning, and which the Hebrews
interpret as light coming from the sun as well.
Other
meanings of the word Barack
Aside
from the meanings of Barack and its variants given above, the word itself mean
differently in other languages around the world. For the Hungarians, barack means an apricot or a peach, which are sweet and
dainty-looking fruits. On the other hand, it represents something strong and
formidable in Israel, as Barak was
the name given to the missile system the country developed for India, And in
Manipur, India, the largest river is called Barak.
In
Ethiopia where the national language is Amharic, blessing translates to bereket, which is also a name commonly
given to men.
You
do not have to dig deep to find the origin of a word. The expert translators
and interpreters of Day Translations,
Inc., World Interpreting, Inc.
and Your Spanish
Translation, LLC are always ready to serve you anywhere you are in the
world, 24 hours a day. They too, are located around the world and all are
native speakers. They could translate and interpret in more than 100 languages.
Photo Credit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama#Family_and_personal_life
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