Khemed
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Khemed is a fictional country in the Arabian Peninsula invented by Hergé for The Adventures of Tintin. It appears in Land of Black Gold (1950) and The Red Sea Sharks (1958). The name means "got it!" in Marols, the Brussels Flemish dialect; the names of many people and places in the country are based on Marols phrases.
Khemed is an Arabic country near the Red Sea and in the Arabian Peninsula. Its capital is Wadesdah (derived from the Marols pronunciation of "What is that?"), although its chief economic center appears to be the port city of Khemkhâh (Marols for "I'm cold"; in English translations, the city is called Khemikhal, an obvious pun on "chemical").
Most of the country is desert. In the Tintin stories, Petra (a historic city located in Jordan) appears to be located in Khemed. This is because Hergé originally set the Land of Black Gold in the British Mandate of Palestine and Transjordan, but his British publishers felt that this setting made the book dated and so he created the fictional Khemed. Indeed, Khemikhal was originally the Israeli port of Haifa.[1]
Khemed is a monarchy, ruled by Emir Mohammed ben Kalish Ezab (from the Marols word kalichesap, liquorice juice), whose son Abdullah is very mischievous, most famously with his exploding cigars and cigarettes. The Emir has been threatened with usurpation on two occasions by Sheik Bab El Ehr (from the Marols word babbeleer, chatterbox); the second time Bab El Ehr was in power for six months with the aid of mercenaries and foreign aircraft. That crisis was caused by Abdullah's demand that Arab Air aircraft perform acrobatic maneuvers for his amusement before landing. The airline refused, as such stunts would cause too much discomfort to its passengers. Kalish then threatened to expose Arab Air's role in the abduction, smuggling and enslavement of Africans. The powerful international criminals who owned Arab Air decided they had no choice but to overthrow the Emir. Tintin and Captain Haddock were able to expose the conspiracy and to restore the Emir to his throne - and get him and Abdullah out of their house.
[edit] The name Khemed
If the word were an authentic Semitic name, it would mean "Love, Desire." (From the verb khamad, "love, desire," in both Arabic and Hebrew. The Hebrew vowels in "Khemed" transform it into a noun.)
