The meaning of names among Mediterranean Jews
Marc Eliany
©
among other possible variations depending on the
country and language of the person.
Atlan is a rare name in the inventory of creators of Mediterranean Jewish origin. It may mean 'the one who is late' in Arabic. The name is represented by three entrees of Algerian origin.
Prefixes attached
to the root name such as (aben, iben, abi, avi, am, ben, bin, abou, a,
aj, al, bel, ha, i, la, lel, me, m, o, wi, vi, ) denotes usually a relation
to a person, i.e., the father of or the son of X, a place, i.e., a person
from X, an occupation, i.e., a person who practices a specific occupation, a
characteristic of a person, i.e., beautiful... The prefixes al, el are equivalent
to 'the' in English or the article 'le' in French. In the Moroccan Berbers tradition,
prefixes such as 'wi' 'vi' 'i' means usually a family relationship to X, the
equivalent of Abu in Arabic, i.e., 'the father of', 'son of' a man, a tribal
affiliation and so forth.In
the Hebrew tradition, the prefix ‘M ‘ is an abbreviation of
the word 'from.'
Suffixes such as 'illo' 'ano' 'ino'
ATLAN
Émile (XXes.). Algeria. Membre of the Algerian resistance against the Vichy
regime.
ATLAN
Henri (XXes.). Algeria. Biologist in France. Specialist of the complex systems
theory. Author of L’organisation biologique et la théorie de l’information
(Biological organization and the theory of information).
References:
Azoulay, Hayim Yossef Shem Hagdolim (the names of the great)
AZOULAY Haïm Yossef David (Hida) (1724-1807) Chém haguédolim va’ad lahakhamim (The names of the Great Council of Sages).
Levi, J et. al. 2000 Dictionnaire biographique du monde Juif Sepharade et Mediteranean, Editions Elysee, Montreal.
Toledano, J. 1983 La saga des familles, Les juifs du Maroc et leurs noms, Editions Stavit, Tel Aviv
Laredo A. 1978 Les noms des juifs au Maroc (Madrid, 1978)