It was created by orientalist writers like Lovecraft as an "exotic" name and subsequently popularized in the Anglo literatisphere as a stock Arab character name. doesn't really exist in the Arabic-speaking world as an independent name, even if it's become common in western countries.

It comes from the word "abd" (عبد) in Arabic, which means servant or slave, combined with "ul" or "al" (ال), Arabic's only definitive article. "Al" can also express possession. It's often used as part of theonyms like Abdallah, meaning literally "servant of God," or like Kareem Abd-ul-Jabbar's name which means "servant of the mighty."

This post brought to you by a high person taking a week off work

  • MendingBenjamin [they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Hope your week off is treating you well. Any chance you still have a copy of the tech bro Mao pic?