Can anyone please tell me what the writing here means: 
http://krystie.net/urdu.jpg.  I believe it is Urdu, not Farsi or
Arabic, but I am not certain on this.  Thanks.

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Request for Question Clarification by secret901-ga on 12 May 2003 01:13 PDT

My roommate, who speaks Arabic, guessed that if this phrase was
Arabic, it would translate to: "Her boyfriend Joseph [Last Name]" or
"Joseph [Last Name] became her boyfriend."
Does this translation make sense?  What makes you think it's Urdu?

secret901-ga

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Clarification of Question by jesseh-ga on 12 May 2003 07:30 PDT

Thanks for the quick response!  We have a friend who speaks Farsi, he
thought the writing was Urdu.

This phrase is written on a plaque on my great-great-grandfather's
house.  His name is Joseph G.  The house is 100 years old and I
believe the plaque is around that old too.  It's very strange because
they live in a very small town that is almost completely French.  To
this day I don't believe you could find anyone who could speak Arabic
near that town.  My Great-grandmother was French also.

The entire plaque reads:

Joseph G-, Proprietor
(Unknown phrase)

Thanks for your help!

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Request for Question Clarification by leader-ga on 12 May 2003 08:25 PDT

Hello:

I can speak and write Urdu and can recognize the text in Arabic. I
thought, It was in Farsi (Persian). Anyway, I will try to contact
people who may be helpful. Thanks.

Hi jesseh,

I'm pretty sure that this phrase is Arabic, since your Farsi-speaking
friend was unable to recognize it, and neither was leader-ga, who
speaks Urdu.

With the new information that you gave, the phrase reads:
"saheboha Joseph Gendron" which literally translates to:
"Its owner Joseph Gendron"
Although saheb is usually used to mean companion or friend, it also
means "owner". A comprehensive dictionary verifies it:
http://dictionary.ajeeb.com/idrisidic_1.asp?Site=1&Src_L=eng_ara1&DestLang=En&lpcWord=%d5%c7%cd%c8

One problem with this phrase was that "its" was used in the feminine
form, while the house, which it probably refers to, is masculine. 
Since this was found in France, one possible explanation was that
naturalized Algerians or Moroccans wrote it (this is indicative of
their dialect of Arabic).

I hope this answered your question.  If you need clarification, please
request for it before rating this answer.
secret901-ga

Sources:
Arabic-English dictionary
http://dictionary.ajeeb.com/idrisidic_1.asp?Site=1&Src_L=eng_ara1&DestLang=En&lpcWord=%d5%c7%cd%c8
My roommate

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Clarification of Answer by secret901-ga on 13 May 2003 14:24 PDT

Hello again jesseh,
It is unfortunate that the dictionary site went offline when you tried
to access it.  It appears to be back online as of now, but in a
different form.  The link appears to be working.  Please use the link
given to verify my answer.

Thanks,
secret901-ga

would have given 5 stars, but the link provided is broken:  i get
"page cannot be displayed - cannot find server or dns error".