Mahsud tribe

[Charsi Malang]

Why is the tribe name "Mahsud" always written as "Mehsud" nowadays? I have a number of old history books written by British authors and they never use the spelling "Mehsud". I know the Mahsud refer to themselves as "Mahsit"

Is there a reason why "Mahsud" is written as "Mehsud" in English?

[Samandri]

Why is the tribe name "Mahsud" always written as "Mehsud" nowadays? I have a number of old history books written by British authors and they never use the spelling "Mehsud". I know the Mahsud refer to themselves as "Mahsit"

Is there a reason why "Mahsud" is written as "Mehsud" in English?

They call themselves "Masid" (مسید) not "Masit" in their dialect. The original is Masud (مسعود), the famous Muslim name you often come across. Mahsud (محسود) is the modification of original Masud , and its usage is prevalent nowadays. I suspect Mehsud is how Urdu-wans would pronounce it but i am not sure.

There are other mispronunciations as well. The proper name is "Mahmand" (مهمند) but Momand (مومند) spelling has become popular.

But the above are minor wrongs. The most common big grammar violation in tribal names is messing up singular and plural of -zai or zi. The actual Singular is Yousafzay ( یوسفزې or یوسفزے ) or Daudzay for male, while plural is Yousafzi (یوسفزي) and Daudzi (for bother genders).....in English its plural should be written as Yousafzis and Daudzis but its written as Yousafzais and Daudzais....... zai (زۍ) is actually for singular female. In my own district there are Tajizi Marwats and their singular is Tajizay......Tajizai is actually incorrect. . I have not read Pashto grammar in schools but as a native speaker i am sure thats how its supposed to be. But on web (and in books) every where Yousafzai or Daudzai etc is written and we go along with it.

Edit: In the same manner "Taliban" is used for a single person while its plural

[Charsi Malang]

They call themselves "Masid" (مسید) not "Masit" in their dialect. The original is Masud (مسعود), the famous Muslim name you often come across. Mahsud (محسود) is the modification of original Masud , and its usage is prevalent nowadays. I suspect Mehsud is how Urdu-wans would pronounce it but i am not sure.

There are other mispronunciations as well. The proper name is "Mahmand" (مهمند) but Momand (مومند) spelling has become popular.

But the above are minor wrongs. The most common big grammar violation in tribal names is messing up singular and plural of -zai or zi. The actual Singular is Yousafzay ( یوسفزې or یوسفزے ) or Daudzay for male, while plural is Yousafzi (یوسفزي) and Daudzi (for bother genders).....in English its plural should be written as Yousafzis and Daudzis but its written as Yousafzais and Daudzais....... zai (زۍ) is actually for singular female. In my own district there are Tajizi Marwats and their singular is Tajizay......Tajizai is actually incorrect. . I have not read Pashto grammar in schools but as a native speaker i am sure thats how its supposed to be. But on web (and in books) every where Yousafzai or Daudzai etc is written and we go along with it.

Edit: In the same manner "Taliban" is used for a single person while its plural

Sounds plausible. I suppose it's the same with Afridi (singular is Afridai) and also Shinwari (singular Shinwarai). Another interesting thing however is that when tribal names are written as surnames they use the plural and not the singular, i.e. Yusufzai, Orakzai, so on and so forth. I suppose it becomes a bit different when the tribal names don't end in an "ai".

Coming back to the "Mahsud" pronounciation, I too have a strong suspicion that "Mehsud" is the Urduwal way of pronouncing it. There are quite a few Pashto words that Urduwals and Panjopyaan can't pronounce properly.

[Traveller]

They call themselves "Masid" (مسید) not "Masit" in their dialect. The original is Masud (مسعود), the famous Muslim name you often come across. Mahsud (محسود) is the modification of original Masud , and its usage is prevalent nowadays. I suspect Mehsud is how Urdu-wans would pronounce it but i am not sure.

Most tribal names in English are spelled using the Urdu/Indic pronounciation. For example Bettani is written as "Bhittani" when the "bh" sound(aspirated voiced bilabial stop) only exists in Indic languages(and I think maybe Balochi). It doesn't exist in Pashto.

But the above are minor wrongs. The most common big grammar violation in tribal names is messing up singular and plural of -zai or zi. The actual Singular is Yousafzay ( یوسفزې or یوسفزے ) or Daudzay for male, while plural is Yousafzi (یوسفزي) and Daudzi (for bother genders).....in English its plural should be written as Yousafzis and Daudzis but its written as Yousafzais and Daudzais....... zai (زۍ) is actually for singular female. In my own district there are Tajizi Marwats and their singular is Tajizay......Tajizai is actually incorrect. . I have not read Pashto grammar in schools but as a native speaker i am sure thats how its supposed to be. But on web (and in books) every where Yousafzai or Daudzai etc is written and we go along with it.

Edit: In the same manner "Taliban" is used for a single person while its plural

I think what you said is inaccurate. The feminine form of of Yousufzay is pronounced "yoo-suf-zai" while the tribal name used in last names and English literature is "Yoo-suf-za-i." I don't know where this name comes from but I don't think it's from Urdu as Afghan Pashtuns also use it. Also I don't agree that the plural of "Yousufzis" instead of "Yousufzais." That makes it too complicated for the vast majority of people writing in English who don't understand Pashto grammar and inflection rules. By this logic we should be writing "pashtāna" or "pukhtāna" instead of "Pashtuns" in English.

[Samandri]

What you said is inaccurate. .

Nope. you think thats inaccurate

[Traveller]

Nope. you think thats inaccurate

Fine, I'll edit it to make it sound more polite. But the rest of my points still stand.

[Traveller]

Its not about politeness or impoliteness, what are you asserting just doesnt make any sense.

Then tell me why you think it doesn't make sense.