Hans Nowak asks:
Why is "Iraq" spelled with a q?
Iraq in Arabic is العراق
The final letter (Arabic is written right-to-left) is ق (qāf) which is a uvular plosive. A uvular plosive is produced like a velar plosive (English 'k') but with the back of the tongue touching the roof of the mouth further back.
Arabic also has a velar plosive ﻙ (kāf).
'k' is a common transcription for velar plosives and 'q' is a common transcription for uvular plosives.
So Iraq is spelled with a 'q' because the final consonant is a uvular plosive and not a velar plosive (even though English speakers pronounce it as if it were a velar plosive). Irak would be a different word in Arabic.
The original post was in the category: linguistics but I'm still in the process of migrating categories over.
The original post had 2 comments I'm in the process of migrating over.