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What does this mean?

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1

It's not Arabic. (The first letter represents the sound ch; the sound and the letter don't exist in Arabic.)

It says Chenab, which is the name of a river in Pakistan. wikipedia

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2

haha hmm. Well that's funny. Thanks for the help, but do you think it could be drawn slightly wrong and actually mean something else?

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3

Sure.

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4

Looks like Chinab (with a long 'i' and a long 'a') or something like Cheynab (again with a long 'a').

Like Vinny said, it can't be Arabic because of the 'ch', but even if that is a error in transcribing, it still doesn't look like an Arabic word because of the four consonants (though it could be). In Frasi and Urdu, "ab" means water and many rivers in Pakistan end in this suffix ("Punjab" and Vinny's "Chenab") ... Any hints as to where you saw it, owenrubia?

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5

Besides the four consonants (or at least these particular four consonants; an initial m etc might not be a program), the two long vowels (or at least these particular etc) make it look un-Arabic.

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6

"might not be a problem[/l]" Shouldn't go on line before I've finished first cup of coffee.

But now I notice that f the wikipedia article that I linked to is right, then the river Chenab isn't written with that long i in Urdu.

We need context, owenrubia.

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7

Now, be gracious, Vinny :)

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8

the b should be closer to the Alif mamduda anyway.

I thought at first: That's not Arabic (because of the jim with three dots under it instead of just one). I don't think it's Farsi either because they have (AFAIK) only the b with three dots undernaeth (which males it a P) and the fa with three dots above (which makes it a V - as in Vinny). Am I correct? Or does Farsi have a jim with three dots too? Or only whatever it is they speak in Pakistan (Urdu?)

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9

Farsi has both "b" and "p" as well as "j" and "ch". There isn't a "vav" with three dots above it (that letter does exist in Urdu I believe).

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