Subject: Mahjong, mah-jongg, mijang, or...
From: mrep@telekabel2.nl (Martin Rep)
Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 19:11:56 GMT

Hi all,


A visitor of my website asked me about the 'official' spelling of mahjong. By now I know there is none, but I am very interested in the way the Name of the Game is written all over the world.

In Dutch you see:
- mahjong
- mahjongg
- mah-jongg
During the high tide of the game in the twenties and thirties, the name was also translated:
- mussenspel (=game of the sparrows).

I am, curious about all your additions. Swedish, Danish, Russian, a.s.o....

| Visit the Internet Mahjong Newspaper
| http://www.mahjong-nl.com
| extensive website in Dutch and English

Subject: Re: Mahjong, mah-jongg, mijang, or...
From: Jesper Harder <jesper_harder@hotmail.com>
Date: 18 Aug 1999 23:26:43 +0200

mrep@telekabel2.nl (Martin Rep) writes:

> In Dutch you see: - mahjong - mahjongg - mah-jongg During the high
> tide of the game in the twenties and thirties, the name was also
> translated: - mussenspel (=game of the sparrows).
>
> I am, curious about all your additions. Swedish, Danish, Russian,
> a.s.o....

The word isn't included in the official Danish dictionary, but in print I've seen: mah jongg, mah-jong, mah jong, mahjong.

Cheers,
--
Jesper Harder, <URL: http://purl.org/harder/ >

Subject: Re: Mahjong, mah-jongg, mijang, or...
From: naoki@kyodai.com.no-spam (Naoki Haga)
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 18:23:24 GMT

On Wed, 18 Aug 1999 16:50:32 -0700, "Tom Sloper" <actsearch@aol.com> wrote:

>Martin Rep wrote:
>
>>A visitor of my website asked me about the 'official' spelling of
>>mahjong. By now I know there is none, but I am very interested in the
>>way the Name of the Game is written all over the world.
>
>It is widely acknowledged that Joseph P. Babcock was the first to import
>sets to the United States and to document rules for the game. He spelled it
>"Mah-Jongg" and so I always use that spelling.
>
>In Japan the kanji characters for the game are pronounced (and properly
>Romanized) "majan."

Shouldn't that be "Maajan" or "Mâjan" ?
--
Rene-Gilles Deberdt (Naoki), Lille, France
Kyodai Mahjongg 3D v9.42, http://kyodai.com/
Cyber Namida, http://kyodai.com/namida/

Subject: Re: Mahjong, mah-jongg, mijang, or...
From: actsearch@aol.com (Tom Sloper)
Date: 23 Aug 1999 05:53:43 GMT

I had written:

>>In Japan the kanji characters for the game are pronounced (and properly
>>Romanized) "majan."

Rene-Gilles replied:

>Shouldn't that be "Maajan" or "Mâjan" ?

So you're saying that the "ma" uses an extended A sound?

The double A is usually used to indicate this. Sometimes a line above the A is used to indicate this (I have never seen a caret above the A to indicate this; but then I don't know if there is a universal ascii character for an A with a line above it).

Tom

Subject: Re: Mahjong, mah-jongg, mijang, or...
From: naoki@kyodai.com.no-spam (Naoki Haga)
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 08:19:50 GMT

On 23 Aug 1999 05:53:43 GMT, actsearch@aol.com (Tom Sloper) wrote:

>>Shouldn't that be "Maajan" or "Mâjan" ?
>
>So you're saying that the "ma" uses an extended A sound?

Yes. The kanji for "mah" can be read "Ma" or "Maa" in Japanese. In Mahjongg's case, it's "Maa".

>The double A is usually used to indicate this.

In English, maybe.

>Sometimes a line above the A is
>used to indicate this

That's what we do in France, at least.

>(I have never seen a caret above the A to indicate this;

Commonly used in France for computers and typewriters, that don't handle the "special effect".

>but then I don't know if there is a universal ascii character for an A with a
>line above it).

Nope.

--
Rene-Gilles Deberdt (Naoki), Lille, France
Kyodai Mahjongg 3D v9.42, http://kyodai.com/
Cyber Namida, http://kyodai.com/namida/