Here is some interesting trivia

[Bob_VT]

BARACK Obama chose RAHM Emanuel to be his Chief of Staff.

Both the names Barack and Rahm are Hebrew names.

Barack is Hebrew for Lightning and Rahm in Hebrew means Thunder.

So now we have Lightning and Thunder in the White House.

And here I was hoping for peace and nice weather.

[Morgan]

I thought Barack meant "blessed"...

[Shroomster]

the interesting trivia I want to see is how long it takes for people to stop coming up with this kind of random and inane stuff... are people really this afraid to have a black person running a business? (not you BOB_VT, just generalizing)

[Morgan]

me too! I wish people could be excited that we had an electoral college majority and a popular majority and GET OVER IT, we have a new guy, give him a chance, quit chanting PALIN 2012, enjoy the pre-honeymood period left in Bush's last 75 days....

[steps on the off topic soap box]

there seems to be a disconnect with most of the people where I live that somehow Barack is a Muslim and that he will take their money and give it to the lefty liberal elites in America...

I guess I not only take issue with his religion (although I am of no affiliation) because mostly they assume that being a Muslim is somehow "bad." WTF!? I don't equate all Christians to the FLDS-polygamy-cousin marrying-child rapists, so why does the entire religion somehow mean someone is a bad person, nevermind that Barack is openly a Christian.... ignorance is bliss for some people I guess... and acceptance comes with the price of defeat for the right - good luck to those of you who are scared, life must be tough for you :)

[/endrant]

[GeneW]

really i didn't know this. I thought Barack was Arabic in nature

Both Arabs and Hebrews are Semitic peoples who share a common root language.

Barack probably has common meanings in either language.

Gene

[Bob_VT]

This came directly from a friend in Israel ......

[Malaya1221]

Barack Obama's first name is the anglicized version of Baraka, which means 'blessing' in Kiswahili (aka Swahili), a language spoken by Senator Obama's Kenyan father.

The word "Barack" is shared among several languages. First, it is a word in the (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_languages) Semitic family of languages. As such it has a root in Hebrew (but written baruch), a version in Aramaic (berek), a version in Arabic (baraka). (See Strong's Hebrew Bible Dictionary, entries 1288-1294.) It also occurs as a loan word in non-Semitic languages that have been influenced by these Semitic languages, such as Kiswahili (the most widely spoken African language). As often happens, cognate words are similar in pronunciation. What appears in a later-appearing language may sound like something else in the earlier language. And in English we sometimes see words that are pronounced the same and even spelled the same, but that have very different meanings.

Baraka means 'blessing' in Kiswahili and comes from the Arabic spoken by the Omani Arabs that lived and traded along the coast of East Africa. Though it came to Kiswahili from Arabic it no longer has any sectarian connotations and is in common use amongst East Africans of all faiths. It is a common name for boys in Kenya and Tanzania.

Barack or Barak means 'lightning' in Hebrew. The name Barak is also mentioned in the Bible in the book of Judges. Barak was part of the story of the prophetess Deborah.

Baruch (or Baruwk, Baruk, Strong, 1263) and its cognates berek and baraka all mean the same. Strong, 1288, says "barak, baw-rak', a primitive root; to kneel; by implication to bless God (as an act of adoration), and (vice-versa) man (as a benefit)." (See http://www.virtualchristiancenter.com/biblestudytools/kjvstrongs/STRHEB12.htm)

Regardless of how one spells the name, it gives two possible and not contradictory meanings. One is "a blessing from God," and another is "a blessing from God that the individual may pass on to others as a benefit to them.

btw: my name means, "who the fuck cares" in Athabaskan language!:eek:

[MadMax]

Great post, Malaya1221! I think we also share the same name, as mine also means "who the fuck cares" in Athabaskian! :thumbsup:

And just since it was brought up, two of Santa's reindeer are also named 'thunder and lightning' (donner and blitzen). :headbang:

Cheers! M2