Talk:Khalil Gibran

Spelling

His name is spelled Kahlil Gibran (Khalil in the Lebanese Arabic Language). I will move the page, when I figure out how. - User:Manchineel

The Wikipedia article declares that the spelling Kahlil arose as a mistake. I know that the male name is most often spelled Khalil to emphasize the sound that is usually designated with a "Kh" rather than with just a "K". Both spellings are obviously widely used in Gibran's case. When I created the page I spelled it "Khalil" to conform with the general spelling of the name as the Wikipedia article does. ~ Kalki 13:40, 19 May 2004 (UTC)

16 years in, additionally to the excellent explanation below by Stan, it seems like a good time to move the article as proposed to align with spelling in Western World and specifically English Wikipedia article Kahlil_Gibran. –Volker E. (talk) 23:43, 25 April 2020 (UTC)

Clarification

Minor editorial clarification to above:

I feel that everyone agrees that the writer was born Gibran Khalil Gibran. He now is known mainly by the Western World as Kahlil Gibran and as Khalil Gibran by the Mideast World, particularly Lebanon/Syria, his birthplace. He is also known as Kalil Gibran by some, and purists continue to call him by his birth name, Gibran Khalil Gibran. How did this happen?

There are conflicting stories. Some blame immigration clerks when Gibran arrived in the US at age 12 from Beirut. The name, Gibran Gibran, did not make sense to them so they dropped the first Gibran and spelled the second 'Kahlil.'

A more popular version is it was suggested when he began to attend school in Boston to learn English, his first formal education, at age 12. His teacher wanted to Anglicise his name to make it more acceptable to American society. In any event, it worked. The first 'Gibran' was dropped and the KHA changed to KAH.

The teacher might also have changed his name because most English speakers cannot pronounce the kh sound in Khalil (IPA: [xaliːl]) correctly. (For those who are not familiar with IPA notation, "kh" is pronounced like the "ch" in the German word Buch (IPA: [buːx]) or the "х" in the Russian word хлеб (IPA: [xlep]).

There is a great deal of Mideast national pride in Gibran, and they're not about to let the West change his name. To many of us who consider him America's greatest writer also, even though he started learning the language at age twelve, and the family was penniless in a strange country, we simply know him as "Gibran."

In any event you can't spell it wrong. However, the word "mispelle" is often misspelled. (grin) Stan (often misspelled 'sAtan') Clark ______________________________________________

Commonly attributed, but correctly?

Is this quote Gibran's? Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

Yes. It's the closing line in the chapter On Clothes in The Prophet. Stan Clark

Misquote

• Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so the other half might reach you is from Sand and Foam, not from The Prophet.

Unsourced

Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable and precise source for any quote on this list please move it to Khalil Gibran. --Antiquary 20:07, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

• If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.

• I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.

• Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.

• Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair but manifestations of strength and resolution.

• The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you, but what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says, but rather to what he does not say.

• If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don't, they never were.

• Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being.

• When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

• A man can be free without being great, but no man can be great without being free.

Sand and Foam

These quotes are from Sand and Foam, sourced below.

• If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.

• I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.

• The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you, but what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says, but rather to what he does not say.

• http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/gibran/sandfoam/sandfoam.htm - A text copy of Sand and Foam.
• http://4umi.com/gibran/sand_and_foam/1 - A second text copy of Sand and Foam, to double check if this is indeed the text.--184.54.80.202 02:04, 10 November 2016 (UTC)