Transcription of Egyptian name Naguib

[raamez]

Why do Egyptians write نجيب as Naguib and not simply as Nagib or Nageeb? Where does this u come from?

 

[Ghabi]

Perhaps to show that it's a hard g in the Egyptian way, instead of a soft g? As in "guide" etc.

 

[Ali Smith]

Because Egyptians are used to transliterating the French way, and in French you need to insert the letter u between g and i/e if you want the g to be pronounced like the g in the English word "guide". Otherwise, the g will be pronounced like the j in jour. Cf. changer and guide.

 

[Ben Jamin]

Because Egyptians are used to transliterating the French way, and in French you need to insert the letter u between g and i/e if you want the g to be pronounced like the g in the English word "guide". Otherwise, the g will be pronounced like the j in jour. Cf. changer and guide.

The spelling Nagib or Nageeb would be pronounced with a "j", not "g" by most persons used to English spelling. Only a few English words are pronounced with "g" after the "ee" or "i".

 

[Abaye]

Only a few English words are pronounced with "g" after the "ee" or "i".

Give or get some, as a geisha girl told me once while I was eating pierogi near the gynecologist's clinic

 

[Ben Jamin]

Give or get some, as a geisha girl told me once while I was eating pierogi near the gynecologist's clinic

You have almost exhausted the stock.🙂

 

[Delvo]

...and half of them were foreign.

 

[Derakhshan]

It tends to be foreign (Latin/French/Greek) words where the G is "soft" after e/i/y. Which makes "gynecologist" a very strange outlier. Think of any words with a Greek "gy". Misogyny. Gym. Gyroscope. They all have soft Gs.