This Arabic text tattoo is by IAM: beakerpins, any insight into the meaning would be much appreciated!
Dragon Ink, Wales, UK.
28 thoughts on “Swansea of Arabia”
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sweet! go Lee!!! 🙂
I don’t know what it means, but the brushstroke-look is stunning.
agree! it really looks amazing.
I only hope the guy who got it knows what it means 😀
talk about tan lines..
Coulda went without the shadowing.
Who the fuck cares about tan lines? S’not like they’re permanent.
I like the bold-ness of this tattoo, though the tattoo itself does nothing for me.
If I see everything right, it says “look” – meaning “look” 😉
It could also be Luke, if that’s his name or someone else’s name, or whatever.
I also considered “Luka” (also a name?), but I guess it’s just that the K is a bit fancy, not that there is actually an alif there (it would be a longer vertical line at the end – meaning on the left :])
Anyways, definitely a transcription, not an actual arabic word I think.
Arabic calligraphy is tough. I know that the first two letters seem to be lam and wow, but that last one is throwing me for a loop. It looks like it could be a nun, but the dot’s missing. I guess the last letter could be a sin, but it’s missing a center nub. It’s not really clear what word, or even what letters, that tattoo is. Sorry :\ My calligraphy reading skills aren’t great. Anybody else wanna try? Someone who speaks/reads a bit better should probably be able to get it down.
It writes “Luke”.
Here is the Arabic word “لوک” and it means “Luke”. It is the combination of the letters “ل”, “و”, “ک”. Try it for yourself at:
http://fingilish.com/default.aspx?obj=home&country=iran&script=arabic&language=farsi
it could be a kuf … without the little sign that goes in it .. or an alif maqsura, i think is the name … an alif that looks like a ya without the two dots underneath.
no idea what it means though :-/
pretty brushstroke 🙂
I think it’s ‘luk’ – maybe the name ‘Luke’? The first letter could be lam, the second looks a bit like waw/vav and the last is kuf = لوک
Very pretty. At least he didn’t tan his tattoo. I can’t understand why people pay so much money for their tattoos only to destroy them with UV rays. My brother in law got a gorgeous half-sleeve right before going to Iraq. Four years later and it looks awful.
As a few others have said, pretty sure it’s supposed to say ‘Luke’… more like writing an english name in Arabic than an actual Arabic word.
Yea, it says “Luke”…
My guess is that he got confused about the final letter, kaf, he starts out with the kaf from the middle of the word, as in لكن and ends as a punctuating kaf, as in ملاك, but also missing the symbol. Not sure if he intended this for any purpose. Why don’t we hear from the person himself, if he’s on here. I’d be interested.
The last letter of the word could also be nun as in ن, he may have been attempting an archaic variation or the reqa’a variation, not sure.
7,9,12,etc: So is Arabic like the new Kanji? People are going to start taking random letters and try to spell out English words (or names) and end up either looking like they don’t know what they’re doing or with a completely different meaning than intended (or both)?
Idk, whatever his reasons for choosing the tattoo, I like the execution of the design, the brushstroke effect is right on.
Haha, that’s a “ك” at the end? Bullshit! haha, it looks nothing like one I’ve ever seen, christ.
Also: about it being the “new kanji,” it isn’t unusual, at least in an academic setting (where I’m at) to spell your English (or other) language name phonetically in Arabic. They have to be able to pronounce your name, not make up a new one!
EX:
آستين = Austin. I think. Fuck trying to type in arabic on a mac, I can never find my little vowels. 🙁
To 16, Jessorz..
well it’s just a name..in arabic or english it’s gotta be the same..and ‘luke’ in arabic really doesn’t mean anything at all..so, it’s just his name 🙂
a kaf (K) in the final/unattached position wouldn’t look like that (only possibly in first or medial), so if it’s meant to say “luke” it’s incorrect in terms of how the language is actually written.
At first I thought that the last letter was a seen (S) but I don’t know any arabic word spelled like that (lam, wow, seen). All my arabic dictionaries are in a box at the moment.
17,18: We all seem to be pretty sure that it begins withلو, but the last one is quite unclear. Like I said, I think that it’s just a ك written in a wrong way – “Luke” would make more sense than anything else I could think of. It could also look kinda like كا, so I thought of “Luka” for a while. It would be quite a weird س and anyway, I don’t know what it could possibly mean – transcription of “loose”, maybe? 😉
The final letter looks more lie a Ya than a Kaf to me – which could spell “Louie”. It’s a little big and high on the line, but that’d be my guess.
Either way, it doesn’t mean anything in Arabic.
Like others before me, I take this tattoo with a grain of salt. While my written Farsi has never been good, this doesn’t seem to be entirely correct. Barring an actual explanation, my response would have to be “um… ok?”
Re. 19 – In a lot of written Persian, at least, the kaf is just like that; it doesn’t have the the little squiggle in the middle of the letter!
It’s not done correctly, this actually means ‘wind lady’ in English.
To all those on here claiming that this couldn’t possible be Arabic because the final letter doesn’t look like a “kaaf” (ك), you are right, although not in the way you probably imagine.
Yes, it’s not traditional Arabic script, but it is Nastaliq, which is used in language Persian and Urdu. This version of the “kaaf” doesn’t have the strange tilde style thing in the middle. It’s like this, (ک).
Though, as others have hinted, it would have been much cooler if he actually got the Arabic version of his name. Since Luke is a Biblical name, it has a perfectly nice Arabic equivalent which is لوقا (luuqaa).
to all the people saying it’s not a ‘kaaf’..yes it is..
I’ve seen it written like that tons of times..in arabic..not even persian like what 27 (even though he’s prolly right and persians do right it like that..i dunno)
and this coming from an actual arab girl, not from someone who just studied it..trust me..I’ve seen it written like that quite a lot..