A brief History of Arabic: The Pre-Islamic Period

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A brief History of ArabicThe Pre-Islamic Period
Abderrahim Chalfaouat
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Outline

• Introduction
• Semitic Origins
• Perishing Arab tribes
• Ancient Arabic Dialects
• Old South-Arabian Dialects
• North-Arabian Dialects
• Influence of Adjacent Dialects
• Influence of Adjacent Languages
• Diglossia
• Arabia in the 7th Century
• Conclusion

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Introduction

• Offspring of Sam son of Noah Assyrians,
  Babylonians, Hebrew, Phoenicians, Aramians, Arabs
  and Ethiopians.
• Much interaction and exchange happened between
  them.
• Before Islam, Arabic was a minor language
• Arabs in the North lived in nomadic tribes while
  in the South they traded with other peoples.
• Writing was not as widespread a trade as speaking
• Proto-Arabic

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Semitic Origins
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by Elie Wardini on http//almashriq.hiof.no/genera
l/400/410/Semitic-Lang-Map.html
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What Do they Have in Common?

• The six vowel system three long and three short
• Writing from right to left
• Vowels used for changing word category
• Infixation more frequent than pre- or suffixation
• Roots are mostly three lettered
• Singular- dual- plural
• Nouns and adjectives different between masculine
  and feminine

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Ancient Arabic Dialects

• Perishing Arab tribes Tribes that lived in the
  Empty Quarter
• Four main tribes Tasm, Jadis, Ad and Thamud
• Little remains for linguistic study.
• Religious books mention them, but many myths are
  told especially by pre-Islam religious leaders.
• They perished because of wars and divine
  punishment.

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Old South Arabian

• Tribes that flourished in Yemen including the
  kingdoms of Saba, Himyar and Hadramaut.
• Descendants of Yareb Ben Qahtan, a progeny of Ad.
• They spoke many dialects of Himyarian Arabic.
• They were in constant contact with other
  Mediterranean civilizations.
• The Arab poet ???? ?? ????considered them the
  teachers of Northern Arabs.
• Ibn Khaldoun in his Introduction mentions the
  linguistic differences between South and North
  Arabian.

???? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ????? ????
?????? ????? ?????? ??? ??? ? ???? ????? ?? ???
??? ???? ????? ? ???? ???????? ?? ????? ???
????? ? ??? ???? ??? ???? ?????? ???? ??? ??
???? ?? ??????? ? ???????? ? ????? ???????
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Old South Arabian (cont)

• Archaeologists have discovered in Yemen a number
  of limestones, dating back to few centuries
  before the rise of Islam
• They generally account personal matters
• Some archaeologists doubt that those great
  traders did not record their history.
• Many of them moved Northward after successive
  draughts followed by the destruction of Maarib
  Dam.
• The Jorhom tribe were very became strong in North
  Arabia
• Ismail son of Ibrahim lived among them and learnt
  Arabic.

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North Arabian Dialects

• Tribes such as Ghassassinide, Khuzaa, Aws,
  Khazraj, Tai, Manathiride immigrated from the
  South.
• Many of them reigned supreme in the region.
• North Arabia was home to nomadic tribes
• Tribes in remote areas were considered more
  eloquent and their Arabic purer.
• They generally spoke Adnanite Arabic

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North Arabic Dialects (cont)

• Differences between tribal dialects took place at
  the level of vocabulary, pronunciation and word
  derivation.

????? ????? ?????
??? ???? ??? ????
?????? ?????? ?????
?????? ??????? ??????
?? ???? ??? ????? ??? ???? ??? ???? The prisoner of war ?? ???? ??? ????? ??? ???? ??? ???? The prisoner of war ?? ???? ??? ????? ??? ???? ??? ???? The prisoner of war
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Influence of Adjacent Languages

• Direct contact with other nations (Persians,
  Romans, etc) was very little.
• Trading caravans brought with them terms related
  to tools, trees, textile, and medicines.
• The transfer of Greek works took place through
  the Soryani translations by the Christian
  scholars mostly Nestorians and some Jacobites
• from the schools of Mesopotamia and Syria, during
  the 4th through the 9th centuries A.D., but its
  influence occured after the rise of Islam.

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Influence of Adjacent Languages

• It is generally accepted that the Arabic script
  developed from Nabataean, a dialect of Aramaic.

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Diglossia

• The co-existence of two different varieties
  started before Islam
• Mecca became the center of the region for
  religious (pilgrimage), economic (trade) and
  poetic (Okad market) reasons.
• Mecca dialect became a lingua franca different
  from other tribal dialects
• Arab poetry and the Quran and Hadiths used Mecca
  dialect (the Koine theory).
• The written form simulates early versions
• The spoken forms changed with time to result in
  present day dialects

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Arabia in the 7th Century

• Mecca became the heart of the area in terms of
  religion, economy and trade, literature, etc.
• Abraha tried to topple down the Old Mosque
• Much linguistic interaction took place.
• The circumstances were very ready for the start
  of a new era, language change and novel
  linguistic contacts included.

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Conclusion

• The importance of Arabic occured mainly after
  Islam

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• Thank you

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References

• Bibliography
• ????????? ????. ????? ????? ?? ???????? ? ???
  ???????. ? 1. ????? ??? ????? ????. 1979.
• ??? ?????? ??? ??????. ????? ??? ?????. ?????
  ??????? ???????. 2004.
• ???? ????. ?????? ?? ????? ????? ??? ???????.
  ????? ????? ?????. ? 1. 1993
• De Lacy O. L., How Greek Science Passed to the
  Arabs. Chicago Ares Publishers Inc. 1979).
• Webliography
• http//www.indiana.edu/arabic/arabic_history.htm
• http//almashriq.hiof.no/
• http//linguistics.byu.edu/classes/ling450ch/repor
  ts/arabic.html

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