Diagnosis: Spelling
Arabic text in question
مدينة الملك عبدالله الإقتصادية
Arabic text as it should be
مَدِينَةُ الْمَلِكِ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ الْاقْتِصادِيَّةُ
Note: You don’t use diacritics (تشكيل) in everyday Arabic. We use them here to clearly explain the grammar, spelling and meaning of words. To avoid confusion, we generally ignore auxiliary vowels that are necessary for pronunciation to avoid consonant clusters.
Analysis
There is a spelling mistake in الإقتصادية.
The Arabic text مدينة الملك عبدالله الإقتصادية, which is written on the monitor in a train, translates into English as King Abdullah Economic City (مدينة الملك عبد الله الاقتصادية). It is information about the next stop on the route.
➤ Correct: The word الإقتصادية should be written as الاقتصادية – with ا and not with a cutting Hamza (إ).
Why is this? In Arabic, the word الاقتصادية (economic) comes from the root ق-ص-د and is the feminine form of اِقْتِصادِيٌّ, which is the Nisba adjective (نسبة) of the noun اِقْتِصادٌ (economy), which itself is the verbal noun (مصدر) of the VIII-verb اِقْتَصَدَ – يَقْتَصِدُ (to economize, to save). The hamza (ء) is not part of this root, nor is it part of the VIII-pattern اِفْتَعَلَ and therefore must not be included in the word. Including such Hamza in الإقتصادية is a common mistake.
- In the word الاقتصادية, the Hamza is called هَمْزةُ الْوَصْلِ. This type of Hamza is used to connect words and is not pronounced when it appears in the middle of a sentence (only if you start an utterance, you pronounce it as a glottal stop).
- It is different from هَمْزةُ الْقَطْعِ, which is always pronounced as a glottal stop.
Should we write Abd Allah (عبد الله) or Abdallah (عبدالله)?
In English, the answer is easy. But in Arabic?
What about the missing space between the words عبد and الله? Especially in Saudi Arabia, but also in Egypt, you will see names like Abdallah written (and treated grammatically!) as one word and not, as expected, with a space (مَسافةٌ).
There are some arguments in favor of treating the whole entity as a first name. But of course there are more arguments saying that you should treat the name as two Arabic words forming a إِِضافةٌ construction that happens to be a person’s first name. My advice is to use the standard rules and put a space in between.
As far as I know, it is accepted today to treat it as one entity when the intended meaning is the first name Abdallah.
- Source: Real Place
- Time the photo was taken: 2022-11-30
- Location: Saudi Arabia
Background: This Arabic text appeared on a monitor in a high-speed train in Saudi Arabia. The Haramain High-Speed Railway ( قطار الحرمين السريع) connects the holy cities of Medina (المدينة المنورة) and Mecca (مكة). This express train can travel up to 300 kilometers per hour (186 miles per hour). The track is 450 kilometers (280 miles) long. It can take people from these cities from start to finish in just two hours. It used to take six hours to drive the same distance. The railway also passes through Jeddah (جدّة) and King Abdullah Economic City.
Credit
Picture credit: Gerald Drißner
Added: 03/24/2025 Gerald Drißner
Wanna cite this article?
Drißner, G. (2025, March 24). Hamza on Speed. Arabic for Nerds. https://arabic-for-nerds.com/errabic/hamza-on-speed/
Published: March 24, 2025
Please check the citation before use, especially if your style guide has local requirements.
Publication ISSN: 3055-1730
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Hamza’t al-wasl is designed to do my head in :)