Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2009 December 27

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December 27

Mr. Bishi

Who is Mr. Bishi? --84.62.197.235 (talk) 15:37, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

Google search here gives 21,900 hits. Without context, we can't really help more than that. --KageTora - (影虎) (Talk?) 15:42, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

What about Mitsubishi? --84.62.197.235 (talk) 15:56, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

That had occurred to me, but, as I say, without any context, all I could do was search on google for the exact term you were asking about. Do you have any context? Is it something about the Japanese car manufacturer Mitsubishi? --KageTora - (影虎) (Talk?) 16:08, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

Is the name “Mitsubishi” used for companies other than the Japanese car manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors? --84.62.197.235 (talk) 21:32, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

Yes, it is. In actual fact, 'Mitsubishi' is a family name, and a A lot of smaller and lesser known companies, shops, and so on, could easily have this name. Bear in mind, though, that normally such companies, etc., would be called 'Mitsubishi' + '[line of business]' (e.g. [EDIT] a theoretical Mitsubishi Liquor Store), just as Mitsubishi Motors do. Bear in mind, also, that Mitsubishi Motors is just part of a larger corporation that deals in all sorts of things. See this page for a list. --KageTora - (影虎) (Talk?) 22:12, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

Mitsubishi is not a family name. For details, see Mitsubishi. --Sushiya (talk) 22:59, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

Fair enough, I was misinformed in that respect, but what I said about Mitsubishi Motors being part of a larger group of companies in the same corporation is true, and the name 'Mitsubishi [something]' is used in many of them. (To be honest, I believed the logo was formed after the name, rather than the other way round). --KageTora - (影虎) (Talk?) 04:00, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

Very interesting; I had heard that the logo was based on the props of the old Mitsubishi Zero. I wonder if the explanation given in our reference (i.e. the Mitsubishi company website) for that has done a bit of history re-writing to remove the association with war. Matt Deres (talk) 06:30, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

Well, the story I'd been given is obviously incorrect as the logo predates WW2; there do seem to be sources indicating it's based on a ship's propeller, though. Matt Deres (talk) 06:36, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

Hm, regarding the OP's question: could it have anything to do with how American otaku use the word bishy (as in, an adjunctive form of bishonen, meaning something beautiful in the anime sense)? TomorrowTime (talk) 17:44, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

Zodi Ikhia

I created the Zodi Ikhia article. However, I can't really dechiffer what is family name and what isn't. Different references give different result, some notable references state 'Ikhia' as the family name. --Soman (talk) 16:20, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

You may want to post this in Talk:Tuareg, if you cannot get any reply here. —Mihkaw napéw (talk) 02:03, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

Some cultural groups simply don't have anything that very closely corresponds to a surname in the western sense, despite sometimes having long multi-part names. For instance, look at Arabic name; sometimes an element from a complex Arabic name gets pulled in to serve as a surname in western contexts somewhat arbitrarily, regardless of whether there's any real equivalence in function. So the element of Saddam Hussein's full original name which probably most closely corresponds to a western surname is actually "al-Tikriti", the element of Yasser Arafat's full original name which probably most closely corresponds to a western surname is actually "al-Qudwa" (or "al-Kidwa"), etc. etc. It can be complicated. AnonMoos (talk) 02:41, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

The confusing thing is that the French National Assembly website show 3 different ways of writing his name (on the same page); Ikhia Aboubekr ZODI / ZODI IKHIA (Aboubekr) / Aboubekr (ou Aboubacar) Ikhia Zodi. However, its seems that most English Google Books hits use 'Zodi Ikhia'. --Soman (talk) 09:53, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

Pondicherry politician

I bit similar to the query posted above; I also created the article Deiva Zivarattinam. However, I can't find any material for the period 1954-1975. The translitteration Deiva Zivarattinam is typically French, probably different translitterations were used after integration with India. Can any material, with a different translitteration, be found on Google? How to write the name in Tamil? --Soman (talk) 16:20, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

What do you mean by “The translitteration Deiva Zivarattinam is typically French, probably different translitterations were used after integration with India”? This link has Tamil transliteration. You may want to check the correctness of the transliteration in “Talk:Tamil script”. —Mihkaw napéw (talk) 02:03, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

I suppose the name would have been given as 'D. Sivaratnam' in English style transliteration, but I couldn't find anything on him on google. --Soman (talk) 17:46, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

Most likely the Tamil is சிவரத்தினம், a scientific transliteration would be Civarattiṉam. The Z in Zivarattinam seems quite odd, I wouldn't say it's typically French either. And if the person used to write his name that way before 1954, there is no reason why he should have changed that after Pondicherry became a part of India. Indeed, even today there are many Pondicherryans who write their names in a French fashion. --BishkekRocks (talk) 20:41, 28 December 2009 (UTC)