Editing Arabic (section)

== History ==

=== Old Arabic ===
{{Main|Old Arabic}}
Arabia had a wide variety of Semitic languages in antiquity. The term "Arab" was initially used to describe those living in the [[Arabian Peninsula]], as perceived by geographers from [[ancient Greece]].<ref name="Al-Jallad"/><ref>{{Cite book|last=Macdonald|first=Michael C. A.|chapter=Arabians, Arabias, and the Greeks_Contact and Perceptions|pages=16–17|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/4593009|title=Literacy and Identity in Pre-Islamic Arabia|isbn=9781003278818|language=en}}{{Dead link|date=November 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In the southwest, various [[Central Semitic languages]] both belonging to and outside the [[Old South Arabian|Ancient South Arabian]] family (e.g. Southern Thamudic) were spoken. It is believed that the ancestors of the [[Modern South Arabian languages]] (non-Central Semitic languages) were spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern [[Hejaz]], [[Dadanitic]] and [[Taymanitic]] held some prestige as inscriptional languages. In {{Lang|ar-latn|[[Najd]]|italic=no}} and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested.<ref name="Al-Jallad"/>

In eastern Arabia, inscriptions in a script derived from ASA attest to a language known as [[Hasaitic]]. On the northwestern frontier of Arabia, various languages known to scholars as [[Thamudic B]], Thamudic D, [[Safaitic]], and [[Hismaic]] are attested. The last two share important [[isogloss]]es with later forms of Arabic, leading scholars to theorize that Safaitic and Hismaic are early forms of Arabic and that they should be considered [[Old Arabic]].<ref name="Al-Jallad">{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/18470301|chapter=Al-Jallad. The earliest stages of Arabic and its linguistic classification |title=Routledge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics, forthcoming |isbn=9781315147062|access-date=2016-07-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023221343/http://www.academia.edu/18470301/Al-Jallad._The_earliest_stages_of_Arabic_and_its_linguistic_classification_Routledge_Handbook_of_Arabic_Linguistics_forthcoming_|archive-date=23 October 2017|url-status=live|last1=Al-Jallad|first1=Ahmad}}</ref>

Linguists generally believe that "Old Arabic", a collection of related dialects that constitute the precursor of Arabic, first emerged during the [[Iron Age]].<ref name="Stefan Weninger 2011">Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston, 2011.</ref> Previously, the earliest attestation of Old Arabic was thought to be a single 1st century CE inscription in [[Sabaic|Sabaic script]] at {{Lang|ar-latn|[[Qaryat al-Faw]]|italic=no}}, in southern present-day Saudi Arabia. However, this inscription does not participate in several of the key innovations of the Arabic language group, such as the conversion of Semitic [[mimation]] to [[nunation]] in the singular. It is best reassessed as a separate language on the Central Semitic dialect continuum.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Al-Jallad|first=Ahmad|title=Al-Jallad. 2014. On the genetic background of the Rbbl bn Hfʿm grave inscription at Qaryat al-Fāw|url=https://www.academia.edu/8770005|journal=BSOAS|date=January 2014|volume=77 |issue=3 |pages=445–465 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X14000524|language=en}}</ref>

It was also thought that Old Arabic coexisted alongside—and then gradually displaced—[[epigraphic]] [[Ancient North Arabian]] (ANA), which was theorized to have been the regional tongue for many centuries. ANA, despite its name, was considered a very distinct language, and mutually unintelligible, from "Arabic". Scholars named its variant dialects after the towns where the inscriptions were discovered (Dadanitic, Taymanitic, Hismaic, Safaitic).<ref name="Stefan Weninger 2011" /> However, most arguments for a single ANA language or language family were based on the shape of the definite article, a prefixed h-. It has been argued that the h- is an archaism and not a shared innovation, and thus unsuitable for language classification, rendering the hypothesis of an ANA language family untenable.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Al-Jallad|first=Ahmad|title=Al-Jallad (Draft) Remarks on the classification of the languages of North Arabia in the 2nd edition of The Semitic Languages (eds. J. Huehnergard and N. Pat-El)|url=https://www.academia.edu/38721216|language=en}}{{Dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> Safaitic and Hismaic, previously considered ANA, should be considered Old Arabic due to the fact that they participate in the innovations common to all forms of Arabic.<ref name="Al-Jallad" />

The earliest attestation of continuous Arabic text in an [[Nabataean alphabet|ancestor of the modern Arabic script]] are three lines of poetry by a man named Garm(')allāhe found in [[Avdat|En Avdat, Israel]], and dated to around 125 CE.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Al-Jallad|first=Ahmad|title=One wāw to rule them all: the origins and fate of wawation in Arabic and its orthography|url=https://www.academia.edu/33017695|language=en}}</ref> This is followed by the [[Namara inscription]], an epitaph of the {{Lang|ar-latn|[[Lakhmids|Lakhmid]]|italic=no}} king Imru' al-Qays bar 'Amro, dating to 328 CE, found at Namaraa, Syria. From the 4th to the 6th centuries, the Nabataean script evolved into the Arabic script recognizable from the early Islamic era.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Nehmé|first=Laila|title=&quot;A glimpse of the development of the Nabataean script into Arabic based on old and new epigraphic material&quot;, in M.C.A. Macdonald (ed), The development of Arabic as a written language (Supplement to the Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 40). Oxford: 47–88.|work=Supplement to the Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies |url=https://www.academia.edu/2106858|date=January 2010|language=en}}</ref> There are inscriptions in an undotted, 17-letter Arabic script dating to the 6th century CE, found at four locations in Syria ([[Zabad inscription|Zabad]], [[Jebel Usays inscription|Jebel Usays]], [[Harran inscription|Harran]], {{Lang|ar-latn|[[Umm el-Jimal]]|italic=no}}). The oldest surviving papyrus in Arabic dates to 643 CE, and it uses dots to produce the modern 28-letter Arabic alphabet. The language of that papyrus and of the Qur'an is referred to by linguists as "Quranic Arabic", as distinct from its codification soon thereafter into "[[Classical Arabic]]".<ref name="Stefan Weninger 2011" />

===Classical Arabic===
{{Main|Classical Arabic}}

In late pre-Islamic times, a transdialectal and transcommunal variety of Arabic emerged in the [[Hejaz]], which continued living its parallel life after literary Arabic had been institutionally standardized in the 2nd and 3rd century of the [[Islamic calendar|Hijra]], most strongly in Judeo-Christian texts, keeping alive ancient features eliminated from the "learned" tradition (Classical Arabic).<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics/middle-arabic-EALL_COM_vol3_0213?s.num=0&s.rows=20&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics&s.q=middle+arabic|title=Middle Arabic |publisher= Brill Reference|journal=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics|access-date=2016-07-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815171843/http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics/middle-arabic-EALL_COM_vol3_0213?s.num=0&s.rows=20&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics&s.q=middle+arabic|archive-date=15 August 2016|url-status=live|date=2011-05-30|last1=Lentin|first1=Jérôme}}</ref> This variety and both its classicizing and "lay" iterations have been termed Middle Arabic in the past, but they are thought to continue an [[Old Higazi]] register. It is clear that the orthography of the [[Quran]] was not developed for the standardized form of Classical Arabic; rather, it shows the attempt on the part of writers to record an archaic form of Old Higazi.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

In the late 6th century AD, a relatively uniform intertribal "poetic koine" distinct from the [[Vernacular|spoken vernaculars]] developed based on the [[Bedouin]] dialects of [[Najd]], probably in connection with the court of [[Al-Hirah|al-Ḥīra]]. During the first Islamic century, the majority of Arabic poets and Arabic-writing persons spoke Arabic as their mother tongue. Their texts, although mainly preserved in far later manuscripts, contain traces of non-standardized [[Classical Arabic]] elements in morphology and syntax.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

=== Standardization ===
[[Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali]] ({{circa|603}}–689) is credited with standardizing [[Arabic grammar]], or ''an-naḥw'' ({{Lang|ar|النَّحو}} "the way"<ref>{{Cite web|last=Team|first=Almaany|title=ترجمة و معنى نحو بالإنجليزي في قاموس المعاني. قاموس عربي انجليزي مصطلحات صفحة 1|url=https://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-en/%D9%86%D8%AD%D9%88/|access-date=2021-05-26|website=www.almaany.com|language=en}}</ref>), and pioneering a system of [[Arabic diacritics|diacritics]] to differentiate consonants ({{Lang|ar|نقط الإعجام}} ''nuqaṭu‿l-i'jām'' "pointing for non-Arabs") and indicate [[Arabic diacritics#Tashkil (marks used as phonetic guides)|vocalization]] ({{Lang|ar|التشكيل}} ''at-tashkīl'').<ref>{{Cite book|last=Leaman|first=Oliver|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=isDgI0-0Ip4C&pg=PA131|title=The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia|date=2006|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-32639-1|language=en}}</ref> [[Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi]] (718–786) compiled the first Arabic dictionary, [[Kitab al-'Ayn|''Kitāb al-'Ayn'']] ({{Lang|ar|كتاب العين}} "The Book of the Letter [[Ayin|ع]]"), and is credited with establishing the rules of Arabic [[Prosody (linguistics)|prosody]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad {{!}} Arab philologist|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/al-Khalil-ibn-Ahmad|access-date=2021-05-27|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> [[Al-Jahiz]] (776–868) proposed to [[Al-Akhfash al-Akbar]] an overhaul of the grammar of Arabic, but it would not come to pass for two centuries.<ref name="Landmarks in linguistic thought III-1997">{{cite book| last=Versteegh | first=Kees|chapter=Ibn Maḍâ' and the refutation of the grammarians|title=Landmarks in linguistic thought III|year=1997|pages=140–152|location=Abingdon, UK|publisher=Taylor & Francis|doi=10.4324/9780203444153_chapter_11|isbn=978-0-203-27565-8 }}</ref> The standardization of Arabic reached completion around the end of the 8th century. The first comprehensive description of the ''ʿarabiyya'' "Arabic", [[Sibawayh|Sībawayhi's]] ''al''-''Kitāb'', is based first of all upon a corpus of poetic texts, in addition to Qur'an usage and Bedouin informants whom he considered to be reliable speakers of the ''ʿarabiyya''.<ref name="referenceworks.brillonline.com" />

=== Spread ===
{{further|Arabization}}
Arabic spread with the spread of [[Islam]]. Following the [[early Muslim conquests]], Arabic gained vocabulary from [[Middle Persian]] and [[Turkish language|Turkish]].<ref name="The National-2016" /> In the early [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid period]], many [[Ancient Greek|Classical Greek]] terms entered Arabic through translations carried out at [[Baghdad|Baghdad's]] [[House of Wisdom]].<ref name="The National-2016" />

By the 8th century, knowledge of Classical Arabic had become an essential prerequisite for rising into the higher classes throughout the Islamic world, both for Muslims and non-Muslims. For example, [[Maimonides]], the [[Al-Andalus|Andalusi]] Jewish philosopher, authored works in [[Judeo-Arabic dialects|Judeo-Arabic]]—Arabic written in [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew script]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Stern|first1=Josef|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YR2jDwAAQBAJ|title=Maimonides' "Guide of the Perplexed" in Translation: A History from the Thirteenth Century to the Twentieth|last2=Robinson|first2=James T.|last3=Shemesh|first3=Yonatan|date=2019-08-15|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-45763-5|language=en}}</ref>

=== Development ===
[[Ibn Jinni]] of [[Mosul]], a pioneer in [[phonology]], wrote prolifically in the 10th century on Arabic morphology and phonology in works such as ''[[Kitāb Al-Munṣif]], [[Kitāb Al-Muḥtasab]], and'' {{Interlanguage link|Kitāb Al-Khaṣāʾiṣ|ar|الخصائص (كتاب)|italic=y}}.<ref>Bernards, Monique, "Ibn Jinnī", in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, Edited by: Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. Consulted online on 27 May 2021

First published online: 2021

First print edition: 9789004435964, 20210701, 2021–4</ref>

[[Ibn Mada']] of [[Córdoba, Spain|Cordoba]] (1116–1196) realized the overhaul of Arabic grammar first proposed by [[Al-Jahiz]] 200 years prior.<ref name="Landmarks in linguistic thought III-1997" />

The Maghrebi lexicographer [[Ibn Manzur]] compiled ''[[Lisān al-ʿArab]]'' ({{lang|ar|لسان العرب}}, "Tongue of Arabs"), a major reference [[dictionary]] of Arabic, in 1290.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Baalbaki|first=Ramzi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cme7AwAAQBAJ&q=lisan+al+arab+ibn+manzur+1290&pg=PA385|title=The Arabic Lexicographical Tradition: From the 2nd/8th to the 12th/18th Century|date=2014-05-28|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-27401-3|language=en}}</ref>

=== Neo-Arabic ===
[[Charles A. Ferguson|Charles Ferguson]]'s [[koiné language|koine]] theory claims that the modern Arabic dialects collectively descend from a single military koine that sprang up during the Islamic conquests; this view has been challenged in recent times. Ahmad al-Jallad proposes that there were at least two considerably distinct types of Arabic on the eve of the conquests: Northern and Central (Al-Jallad 2009). The modern dialects emerged from a new contact situation produced following the conquests. Instead of the emergence of a single or multiple koines, the dialects contain several sedimentary layers of borrowed and areal features, which they absorbed at different points in their linguistic histories.<ref name="referenceworks.brillonline.com">{{Cite journal|url=http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics/polygenesis-in-the-arabic-dialects-EALL_SIM_000030?s.num=1&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics&s.q=neo-arabic|title=Polygenesis in the Arabic Dialects|publisher= Brill Reference|journal=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics|access-date=2016-07-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815234348/http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics/polygenesis-in-the-arabic-dialects-EALL_SIM_000030?s.num=1&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics&s.q=neo-arabic|archive-date=15 August 2016|url-status=live|date=2011-05-30|last1=Al-Jallad|first1=Ahmad}}</ref> According to Veersteegh and Bickerton, colloquial Arabic dialects arose from [[pidgin]]ized Arabic formed from contact between Arabs and conquered peoples. Pidginization and subsequent [[creolization]] among Arabs and [[Arabization|arabized]] peoples could explain relative morphological and phonological simplicity of vernacular Arabic compared to Classical and MSA.{{sfn|Versteegh|2014|p=299}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VM6M1351GWsC&pg=PA198|title=Diathesis in the Semitic Languages: A Comparative Morphological Study|last=Retsö|first=Jan|date=1989|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-08818-4|language=en|access-date=16 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004104045/https://books.google.com/books?id=VM6M1351GWsC&pg=PA198|archive-date=4 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

In around the 11th and 12th centuries in [[al-Andalus]], the ''[[zajal]]'' and [[Muwashshah|''muwashah'']] poetry forms developed in the [[Andalusian Arabic|dialectical Arabic of Cordoba]] and the Maghreb.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Ibn Khaldūn|author-link=Ibn Khaldun|title=The Muqaddimah : An Introduction to History|isbn=978-0-691-16628-5|oclc=913459792|publication-date=27 April 2015|date=1967|orig-date=work in the original language written in 1377|publisher=Princeton University Press|translator-last=Rosenthal|translator-first=Franz|translator-link=Franz Rosenthal|editor-last=Dawood|editor-first=N. J.|editor-link=N. J. Dawood}}</ref>

=== Nahda ===
The ''[[Nahda]]'' was a cultural and especially literary renaissance of the 19th century in which writers sought "to fuse Arabic and European forms of expression."<ref name="Gelvin-2020">{{Cite book|last=Gelvin|first=James L.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1122689432|title=The modern Middle East : a history|date=2020|isbn=978-0-19-007406-7|edition=Fifth|location=New York|pages=112|oclc=1122689432}}</ref> According to [[James L. Gelvin]], "''Nahda'' writers attempted to simplify the Arabic language and script so that it might be accessible to a wider audience."<ref name="Gelvin-2020" />

In the wake of the [[Industrial Revolution|industrial revolution]] and European [[hegemony]] and [[colonialism]], pioneering Arabic presses, such as the [[Amiri Press]] established by [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali]] (1819), dramatically changed the diffusion and consumption of Arabic [[Arabic literature|literature]] and publications.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.library.yale.edu/neareast/exhibitions/earlyprinting1.html|title=Early Arabic Printing: Movable Type & Lithography|last=Okerson|first=Ann|date=2009|website=Yale University Library|access-date=20 February 2020|archive-date=18 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218151558/http://www.library.yale.edu/neareast/exhibitions/earlyprinting1.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Rifa'a al-Tahtawi]] proposed the establishment of [[Madrasat al-Alsun]] in 1836 and led a translation campaign that highlighted the need for a lexical injection in Arabic, to suit concepts of the industrial and post-industrial age (such as ''sayyārah'' {{lang|ar|سَيَّارَة}} 'automobile' or ''bākhirah'' {{lang|ar|باخِرة}} 'steamship').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamzaoui |first=Rached |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/462880236 |title=L'Academie de Langue Arabe du Caire |publisher=Publications de l'Université de Tunis |year=1975 |oclc=462880236 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=الشيال |first=جمال الدين |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1041872985 |title=رفاعة الطهطاوي : زعيم النهضة الفكرية في عصر محمد علي |oclc=1041872985}}</ref>

In response, a number of Arabic academies modeled after the {{Lang|fr|[[Académie française]]}} were established with the aim of developing standardized additions to the Arabic lexicon to suit these transformations,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sawaie|first=Mohammed|date=2011-05-30|title=Language Academies|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics/language-academies-EALL_COM_vol2_0082#d10645177e183|journal=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics|language=en|access-date=20 February 2020|archive-date=27 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227053137/https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics/language-academies-EALL_COM_vol2_0082#d10645177e183|url-status=live}}</ref> first in [[Arab Academy of Damascus|Damascus]] (1919), then in [[Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo|Cairo]] (1932), [[Iraqi Academy of Sciences|Baghdad]] (1948), [[Institute for Studies and Research on Arabization|Rabat]] (1960), [[Jordan Academy of Arabic|Amman]] (1977), {{Interlanguage link|Academy of the Arabic Language in Khartum|lt=Khartum|ar|مجمع اللغة العربية بالخرطوم}} (1993), and [[Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Arts|Tunis]] (1993).<ref name="UNESCO-2019">{{Cite book|last=UNESCO|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PhnLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19|title=بناء مجتمعات المعرفة في المنطقة العربية|date=2019-12-31|publisher=UNESCO Publishing|isbn=978-92-3-600090-9|language=ar|access-date=31 March 2021|archive-date=5 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210405055054/https://books.google.com/books?id=PhnLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19|url-status=live}}</ref> They review language development, monitor new words and approve the inclusion of new words into their published standard dictionaries. They also publish old and historical Arabic manuscripts.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

In 1997, a bureau of Arabization standardization was added to the [[Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization|Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization]] of the [[Arab League]].<ref name="UNESCO-2019" /> These academies and organizations have worked toward the [[Arabization]] of the sciences, [[Neologism|creating terms]] in Arabic to describe new concepts, toward the standardization of these new terms throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and toward the development of Arabic as a [[world language]].<ref name="UNESCO-2019" /> This gave rise to what Western scholars call Modern Standard Arabic. From the 1950s, [[Arabization]] became a postcolonial nationalist policy in countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco,<ref>{{cite book|last=Tilmatine|first=Mohand|chapter=Arabization and linguistic domination: Berber and Arabic in the North of Africa|title=Language Empires in Comparative Perspective|year=2015|pages=1–16|place=Berlin, München, Boston|publisher=DE GRUYTER|doi=10.1515/9783110408362.1|isbn=978-3-11-040836-2|s2cid=132791029 }}</ref> and Sudan.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Seri-Hersch|first=Iris|date=2020-12-02|title=Arabization and Islamization in the Making of the Sudanese "Postcolonial" State (1946-1964)|journal=Cahiers d'études africaines|issue=240|pages=779–804|doi=10.4000/etudesafricaines.32202|s2cid=229407091|issn=0008-0055|doi-access=free}}</ref>