Editing Arabs (section)

== Etymology ==
{{further|Arab (etymology)}}
[[File:Epitaph Imru-l-Qays Louvre AO4083.jpg|thumb|The [[Namara inscription]] is an Arabic epitaph in [[Nabataean script]] of [[Imru' al-Qais]], son of "Amr, king of all the Arabs". Basalt, found at [[Nimreh]] in the [[Hauran]] ([[Southern Syria]]), dated 7 December 328 CE.]]

The earliest documented use of the word ''Arab'' in reference to a people appears in the [[Kurkh Monoliths]], an [[Akkadian language|Akkadian-language]] record of the [[Assyrian conquest of Aram]] (9th century BCE). The Monoliths used the term to refer to [[Bedouin]]s of the [[Arabian Peninsula]] under [[Gindibu|King Gindibu]], who fought as part of a coalition opposed to [[Assyria]].<ref name="Retsop105">{{Cite book|last=Retsö|first=Jan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pUepRuQO8ZkC&pg=PA105|title=The Arabs in Antiquity: Their History from the Assyrians to the Umayyads|publisher=Psychology Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0700716791|author-link=Jan Retsö}} pp. 105, 119, 125–127.</ref>

The related word ''ʾaʿrāb'' is used to refer to Bedouins today, in contrast to ''ʿArab'' which refers to Arabs in general.<ref>[[Hans Wehr|Wehr, Hans]], and J. M. Cowan. ''A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic'' (3rd ed.) Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services. p. 601.</ref> Both terms are mentioned around 40 times in pre-Islamic [[Sabaean language|Sabaean]] inscriptions. The term ''ʿarab'' ('Arab') occurs also in the titles of the [[Himyarite Kingdom|Himyarite kings]] from the time of [[Tubba Abu Karab As'ad|'Abu Karab Asad]] until MadiKarib Ya'fur. According to Sabaean grammar, the term ''ʾaʿrāb'' is derived from the term ''ʿarab''. The term is also mentioned in [[Quran]]ic verses, referring to people who were living in [[Medina|Madina]] and it might be a south Arabian [[loanword]] into Quranic language.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ABADY_Yemen_Archaeology_9_12|title=ABADY_Yemen_Archaeology_9_12|page=[https://archive.org/details/ABADY_Yemen_Archaeology_9_12/page/n142 127], 128}}</ref>

The oldest surviving indication of an Arab national identity is an inscription made in an archaic form of Arabic in 328 CE using the [[Nabataean alphabet]], which refers to [[Imru' al-Qays ibn 'Amr]] as 'King of all the Arabs'.<ref>{{Cite book|first1=William|last1=Bowden|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fFhsk-ccTsAC&pg=PA91|title=Recent Research on the Late Antique Countryside|first2=Luke|last2=Lavan|first3=Carlos|last3=Machado|publisher=Brill|year=2004|isbn=978-9004136076|page=91}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ira M. Lapidus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kFJNBAAAQBAJ|title=A History of Islamic Societies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0521514309|page=29}}</ref> [[Herodotus]] refers to the Arabs in the Sinai, southern Palestine, and the [[Land of Frankincense|frankincense region]] (Southern Arabia). Other Ancient-Greek historians like [[Agatharchides]], [[Diodorus Siculus]] and [[Strabo]] mention Arabs living in [[Mesopotamia]] (along the [[Euphrates]]), in Egypt (the Sinai and the Red Sea), southern Jordan (the [[Nabataeans]]), the [[Syrian steppe]] and in eastern Arabia (the people of [[Gerrha]]). Inscriptions dating to the 6th century BCE in Yemen include the term 'Arab'.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics|url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-644|date=2015|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.644|isbn=978-0199381135|last2=Healey|first2=J.F.|last1=Salles|first1=Jean-François|chapter=Arabs}}</ref>

The most popular Arab account holds that the word ''Arab'' came from an [[eponym]]ous father named [[Ya'rub]], who was supposedly the first to speak Arabic. [[Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani]] had another view; he states that Arabs were called ''gharab'' ('westerners') by [[Mesopotamia]]ns because Bedouins originally resided to the west of Mesopotamia; the term was then corrupted into ''Arab''.

Yet another view is held by [[al-Masudi]] that the word ''Arab'' was initially applied to the [[Ishmaelites]] of the [[Arabah]] valley. In Biblical etymology, ''Arab'' (Hebrew: ''arvi'') comes from the desert origin of the Bedouins it originally described (''arava'' means 'wilderness').

The root ''ʿ-r-b'' has several additional meanings in Semitic languages—including 'west, sunset', 'desert', 'mingle', 'mixed', 'merchant' and 'raven'—and are "comprehensible" with all of these having varying degrees of relevance to the emergence of the name. It is also possible that some forms were [[metathesis (linguistics)|metathetical]] from {{transliteration|sem|ʿ-B-R}}, 'moving around' (Arabic: {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ʿ-B-R}}, 'traverse') and hence, it is alleged, 'nomadic'.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The meaning of Arab land in the historical sources|url=http://uqu.edu.sa/page/ar/56829|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100315055238/http://www.uqu.edu.sa/page/ar/56829|archive-date=15 March 2010}}</ref>