A Linguistic History of Arabic JONATHAN OWENS OXFORDS 135545 exow MINIM ‘cd ey Pe iene Use xr Acknowledgements and Dedication eee “Tux challenge of developing critical, coherent inerpretation of Arabic ‘Saver eda ene tC ct linguistic history Bt confonted me when I began teaching a thre-semester Saree Cote onthe bjt a aye Unie,» cone wich tog the wun {Toul te to imagine) entre pron of ants conta ai di Ce ce Pretd new les and peng SoS es, “A mumbo fad contrbtd he working snd ering of his ceiteeaerane took Two anonymous ees provided iuating ct to he ete Sareea wren wl rn Gone tat ao challenging bent Ch nd att pa sn TBrCh Janet Wan pve hil and perineal gon, in for new lations I would ike ely to ake the contribution of = nye Pe Lace fr the niente a provided in eh nt ‘shame cums, pining many yes ag 9 Bergh ‘en sey Ftp "The research on Nigerian Arb, ted fequeny ia this bok, has been —— sri any es ro lw te ce ene Soioeeaestentre ener rnc (tn heh Cal pei ana a see Stn Cae yn my ate apa hgge e ‘aeiy aonb yr an ceed my Saindngc wri Te ie land iia par gen ea ‘iret mot ne ne dco ‘Bayreuth University over many yeas by Klaus Wolf of the computer center as is ay Coin Pes ae vel a Dr Brigit John or providing me wth map templates = The corspondeace with ohn Dave of OUP was prompy, invigorating Bow ne Cs nn cial and encouraging oe ‘ial would ike to thankthe publishes Harrasowits Vea for owing Eat tS de sme fo reproduce portions of ‘Abide al Kabiy and the History of “Asbi, which appened in W.Armld and Bobzin, H, (es) (2002. Sprich ‘ich mit dsinonKnecon Aamach wir veschen ex. Festschrift for Oto vosrameens Isr (Wiesbaden: Harrasowitn, 23-2, the Onford Unversity Pres for ‘Slowing reproduction of age portions of Case and Proto-Arabi’ Bulletin of ‘he School of Oriental and Afra Sts 6: si-79 and 217=27 a8 well as John Benjamins orallowing eprint from Dichronieaa of parsofthe ate aed) "Pee Diaspora Arabic: Diet, Statics and Historia Recotracion: Stowe” 1 dedicate the bok tothe memory of my Brother Christopher. pap gynContents ABreiatons and Symbol Maps 1 Introduction: A Language and ts Secrets 1, Proto-Azaie, Basie Tres 13, The Early Sources 1S The Role of the Modern Dict interpreting Arabic Language History a Sope of Work 15 Language Change and Langage Tasamision 18. A Catal Look at Some Tiss in Arabi Hoi Linguistics 1 Summary of Chapters 2 Od Arabic, Neo Arabic and Comparative Linguistics 2.4 A Method va Logical Matric 2.2 Stages in Abie 25. Anicand the Disks 24 Neo-Arabic andthe Neo-German shoo! 25. The Pati the Prevent A Moder Logi Mati 24. The Arbic Tradition 2. Condsion 2 Case and ProtoArabie 3 Intodustion| 32 Cain the Acasa Phylum 33. Casi Anie 14 The Modern Diss 36 Case and Cases Arabic 4 Alig al Kabie and Case Endings 44 Sharh Paya Nahr A Fiteent- Century Tease on oreic Variants 442 Linguist Atbutes of Major Assimilation {63 Imerpetve SummaryContents i omens : = es ‘Append Lit and hr summary of dies ined in stuly an 5 Rap icine Dare AS rhs Aen Ut nd sr sm of icine Antic Langage Hisony sv bri exptifaton x sidan ay Appeal in Zaman! $5 Dialects Procedure ita Rests a ‘Append Tble of fs rn wed in ecnsrcions a 5: Steal Rl nd te ang ™ fa heor » $4 iepretone y Refer = 5 The Interpretation of ri Linguitic History “ tee 5 Siti, Racntrcon, Hypothes Teting ‘se $2 Thre ests ” $4 Problem in Coding ” 6 Nigrn Abi and Recostracton ofthe pet eb as The Basinger Verb a 62 Hira Seen ™ 63 Erne ™ {64 The Old Abi idence co 65: The Recontracions td the Chis Arabi eb Mose ning 5 2. Ia » 27 Inala in OW Arabic » 7a Iman he Modern Dies = 33 Reconstr pa | Si Pronouns ad Recontrction 20 4s Paul and Conte Rams and Case Eadings 20 | Sufi Pronouns ad Case dings 24 "3 Pronomina Sofites, Cte Ending an Ent Vowels ines a 84. Syl Sractue 2 85 Aaa Sine a 16. Unproblenat Cs, Some Easy Generaliations » 47, Mote Dieu Ces, Ms 84 Cae Tce Ba "a: Hala and Od Abie Obj Pronoen ecorstction S 9 Summarys Eilogue 6 23 Recontracton and Continty with OW Arabic 6 92. FonteAbbreviations and Symbols Proto-Arabic form = = = = oes = aie aie cet, = Shoe seaty a = hen Novae Old ant Pu eran Kern tation Sid Ante Sing Now Wester adn Abie Maps Sample poins Mile Hater des 2 Nath can sample pois 4 Reson be on mor es of pee dpi in pal formsIntroduction: A Language and Its Secrets Arabichas aways bon puro those who ee int its intricacies A good umber ef medial Arabic grammar aude ocude the word sce or ect? in thet te that ofthe twelRh-enurygrammrian ALARA, for instance, PAsuar alSArabipn, “The Secrets of Abc, oF thn Fins (G. soe), Sir Sinaiat al rah “The Secret ofthe Cat of Grammar (or taesion)” Other unlock its secrets, such as Salakis Mian 1215Ulm, “The Key to the Since and some, ike the etn centary ‘paramarian Ibn AL Sars AL Ul fy Nab The Foundations of Gram mat’ describe the cow ofthe language: Secrets abound no less oa th ‘oo yeas ago when Ibn ALS was ate Indeed, a the modern nga ‘ie scenes exp 0 09 do the question contemporary scholars ak of the langage Teies source of nde ascntion, however, that many ists which pres om us today were equaly addr by the founders and eat ratitiones of [Arabic grammar a wall Throwgh thi genius atose «core of linguistic ‘hinking which was, in ie theoreti underpinnings sgt in it own ‘ight, but hich alo produced a descriptive corpus of great dtl This opus ates wil i awn secret, ope of which sec to Tok int in this book: One inthis instance comes Hom the nineteen century inthe form ‘ofthe comparative method, the ee, the form of Arabi spoken ding abd before the Aric lar dip ofthe eat amie To unravel tis ot only the eal sources of Arabi oF OL! Arabic ster the eallctive (aay sores, which are relevant, but also the vast fabri of contemporary ‘oben Arabi the Arabic lcs which ave acetal le olay. Bringing {he two sources together ina cooperate, athe than dichotomous, anag- ‘nist fashion as hasbeen tradition in Western Arabi sade, yids new Insight nt the history of Arabic2 teraction A Langage an Sees 14 Proto-Araic, Basic Terms Teta of Abi ing tryin he Weer holy ation dee on tm be And Neo New he protege Aci poet Sine (Dias nd Wie iach ome the tose enna “oprnidean ilvaite une my ov ae aa ny ain desig ioral vet ae otha Icha su ote lowing min fer fm coat say ab car Peto The fname ej yh aii ithe sxonaraion of «poo ange Thi st wenn ed one hich ile iar rer, td whet ge 2 5 cont oF thd of pean on the cumstances ofa ined ggg yea gsi sent ae ronan of agua ru ‘tegen tent Ween Naito pbs oe ‘eet gh ore urs heb hot 2 Pe ser Abc Pe dap Anis wares Ahi san important lin tis sprklisdcl ton ignite re a at etn And Abi pd wh penne uous aeexpaned not by chan ‘coe Sign Gene Ph Setween the wo exemplified Seay independent development but by disso, both in tine and geography is org must be ound at aime and Introduction A Language an ts Sots 3 lace when the ancestral populations were sil together: Tis is pre-dasporic times the Arabic ciated wih, pedagpore rai Pre-daspore Arabic is conologeal stated. However, ofits exe are at thi point approximate Asan endpoint | propse 70. This {fact ina date wel er the ital Ary mic expansion. The sipnicance ofthis date tha sts when Shaw (179. lametChriianelends) tras active a inguistTo the extent that ny rents of reconstruction based ‘om contemporary dialects ar comparable vo Old Arabic outers, Siow is {he best pint of compacta, since hei the very eat source (x, prob ematical, the aint Koran reading tradition which a generation before Sibawaih). Th Siwy is taken st an eyentes 0 the pe-diasporic ‘avi, This admit, «convenient tion. Sawa Ms, fr "Sisknown, never treed peronaly in the Arabian peninsula ad therefore as newer eyewitness to the prediasporc homeland of Arabic He was 2 tative Persian speaker active in Basra who knew about vais of Arabic {fom individual inthe Bustandaspore, None, aay ll tbl (eg ays Banw Wat, Tamimi) and areal (eg. Hz, Medina) designations found in Sibawih restated in the Arabian peninsl, which allows the Seton to be aca with pre dasporc regions. For the starting date ne can ve the nial Arba expansion, which ‘gan around 630, Ku and Bra, fr instance, were the ist mics founded in south Trg, 636 and 17638 respective. OF course ‘Arb expansion int the lands bordering the Arabian peninsla had began ‘well ble Islamic ties (Reto 203). However, asthe summary in the ‘revious paragraph kes cle iis on in Hams ines thatthe expansion ‘moved wel ovtie ofthese oo Ttheeore propose the period 60-790 athe er of pre-dispoic Arabic “This ins termes ad quem A form econsricted oti ea inal itho0d ‘sted before a well urter reconstruction s hereby implies as wil be ‘aborted on below in thi section. Event, moreove it wl be desible te rate rete of lngutic reconstructions Such a undertaken here, more oul ta population movement, a discussed at rater ngth in 3.4 below, ‘rediasporic Ari 2 variety based te resls of reconstruction of| modern dnt Not al sch reconstruction ofcourse xs to pre daspric “Arie A great deal of historia! inguitie devdopment occured local in the post daspora era, What an be econstrcted as pre-dasporccan ony be ‘stablshed on a cacy case consideration of data. While pre-daporic [Arabi sa reconstructed wre not necessary wiry varity. To ‘the contary. twill fen lead to the postion of multiple pre-dasporc Forms nh. 8 for nstance the MPL object sfx is rconstrcted a kum4__ trout Language and ts Sets an expect "inthe predispori pesiod. Tis ot unexpected. Pre seis conse prod between an 90 ugh se chronlogil prod sate themularions forms iced te (4 Aci erature (ce next terminologal pot and set. 13 below), A ‘scons predlasporic Arabic expands anc "ions found in hs terre. a Met "tnt ten des ann eral See ee eth wa ncn tae rte aecanee ena resem i ee et yn ea Seta re . so aay ribet morte pacers Fe pabertaeagriaett saree SSS ei Introduction: A Language and ts Sects 5 ‘dion hich con of Ant a irl gig vl Sitieeantnch = {Gal tbc Men Sr Ac ro aon ey secs cme os ego itn, Che Whee SS acne dnt fh Anitnoroaly as en ‘Ftp ov Se pie you dg ay ipso eit et eprint Te ‘Soon tw Coan ops ops an 9) ‘Sims Clase Ai nan epee Spl a rio OM Ars An lou ono es inp atin cae og thins hve cli nl itu md rng tenis Sh ee oe tig ‘Siempre At poctpandsnon anyone sy ‘lite tenmy fr ke pl maior cero rman yo re py ce ae Sa ISU or Md Sad soy srl of Seainang hth etn ne sd ce {Sth inure saan he te mo Dale's len cnc eon wih 00 ction an i dt Pb seg thee ren Sa Rk a te shred nm Bw As emery Sap mu pt epee ue be ey tieralc ning rea he er tng Hower te ne Town cums digress ron oe ne 1 Se impae Cpe tn oS ot mre ined te Sra cosa nos ch afte hae mate TF Miche a) ope ey Elneet Spten be Tae ft comer Ane iil pa of patti someone ei pn tm fat fe rb SR rotor tuo ih aed he eter ‘Sheen ie rier an om te ae 1. The Early Sources Arabi bese bya seltivey large quantity of nly matrain terms of the history of Wesem scolaship.pebaps too much, The pleitade of carly material suspect detracted from the need to ncorporate IterSnodcton: A Lange ad ts Sees eo Lenape and Imad: A Language and Its Sere ‘arg nt + vec history of Ani «pi etre on in be ae explored in minute detail iho’ importance in an interpretation of Although de, contemporary langue story wl be apparent st many places in his book. A second great eye te ctmomecnyeidnc periig oO Abies ‘ontriton to erly Arabic igi thought was the work of the Korie ‘commentator Fara? (27/83. In over kaon pages Fara? commented on many linguistic aspects of the QurZaan ina Werk Beavng the Ue "Te Meanings of the Quran Danaus in Si Belang These two works set the sage for a pate of phological activity on doce at (Belay 98), While they ae inte grammar and lexicography by other linguists, 2 umber of whom wl be Invoduced in subsequent chapters. Sie, quite obviously, these east ‘rammariane had preconceived model of «standard varity of Arabi, {here i found especialy in their work ret umber of observations on (ese 163 bow, hee Asami ae ea ous of rabies ‘rious grammatical and phopolgialconstuctions and vocabulary. These ats a ei fe ane a ‘iis mses Sey oon titan ove er Sc te en netcaptelo nae clo oa eta nrdaren = ee ecg ch on. narked, and even no diacrtical points to distin ‘With an increasing standardization later grammarians, beginning around Senet eereapeeames wih oy pom es ‘ty onc Pn gg on Fe dont ea be xp dus gc cacy or thve wit penchant for gern tects ted cy Kaan gen) ‘Sesriem eater ours te tia etry gamma rrwt—~—~—C—C—~—~—=——C“‘#é‘ECC=sC oat lt ea ee aterm tera arr ee a. =. cen eeaea as angler meceancerge sia Seine Stet fa compte rrns ae Gufarat Tear ens opt cy mame in th tether. tn Moshi reve ct outa one ad ‘long with many other scoary today (ce summary in Larcher 2000, eh ein ia en a eee ee cab ek bon oh wien aca fui ne ihc a as —.. rti‘“ sa enphaicYoed denal inp da o contact with Pe ‘pees (and perhaps her Ingegs, who have Of cour, one ‘ould went to examin the social Strate fhe omimiy to determine ‘iat om vor norma ramos or team, howe, such ‘Sho -storkal iformaton ig “The dat and ioc sec in th secon, robles though they ae ‘scone elie wel document Tike theo eansmision {54 da torn capinng ange inthe bry of Arb epiniogn Dre dasporicimer and moving the roel a8 ara whi t ts sage in the ay ofthe soya Ar ein oo eons 0 se weth within mcr-anals of ngage History" Beyond the many imponderbes noted re as tobe ed the farther ey arable of igi serecontracton ful Wat form of Aric hold be ae an inital input Oboe ramet fis book ht prot-Abisel ot " re-gien ety, but rather one which nlf eae for wing inter i the compare method. “Tosummarize is ston ot eet his pie gia xanga on Aric eft el undtodt ent thereof tanuminion In Arabi anguge hon, Reet paces stihcn ana hs statn tl Apo oi eins tein toa dye contrary ng data cn be conte i tise cay totempoary mio lng adi, nett fing cathe esl vrata, can be we tcataple bk exerers ot legge ory (0 this nd ce sel. igi cones uch a senor tanpareny canbe ape ts as ingots. Tee ears, weer re nt fan agenda for fue reach, tre ‘ttn ferment which canbe wed wtbou gual © gbsin the Spument ofthe cent work om ap at nino nee et en ae te see et ewan seh he ia hci tarsi enorme Tnpome te ‘somone denon ra20 _Inradcton A Language ond Sets 16, A Grtcl Look at Some Truems in Arabic Historical Linguistics ne flowing eight chapters wil dotop my inrpreation of etn trols Ai historia igi Wane lage comple ofr ‘wich se op Artic histor ington Bebe thee have dep sof us who hore or dette ass taken for rate {wold eo ae is opporunity to comet eal on hme ent nt psa nt eon rare Engi. Sone, tough not all of the oi aedevebped i peter al ie loin pte Sine anaes te he ae ‘he dpa inhi apc ointrpeing teistory of bie thin ‘Ente men cet postin ey gas hea nis sc Isp thy prt fhe kod nls twee, wh ‘ccompnts as fhe ngage 1. Mian pa for the le Ditcrceseeen soxild O Abic ed cle! OM Abi an No Aric ae ‘helen ie bsp i eee oy Thoin wl be oso ‘commented on in detail in Ch. 2. eens 1a. The faecal ana he tthe pas, tit comee diate hat fd there Clas cake what predecessor varieties were a Tesi » oi nt mcs anced in inept At hitb on rc cen aye ae a {Prue fundinch aes 23) Toone eines edna tent long Ween Ati, een ay fe mae * amy ves a ew reading ofthe famous Namaarh insrgtion. This steed sar Introduction A Langage and is Sees 21 se Fist, Bellamy explores only one assumption tht he ext isin Sanda Abi, This shoul be in and of fac anacceptble even for the Mot conereaive of Aribicite The construct Standard Arab ase inter tla, socal mies which 0 fara we know, id not ext in 28 Bond this 2 dipasionate comparative analss—should one asume on a prin ‘pounds tht «certain variety undets the arity~needs to explore ther "Ssumptions, for instunce tht» certain Arabic lect egal commen ‘urate with Belay’ imerprtton or tht sings eran dct sa basisof imerpetation docs slo yield ple esl Second, and more important spy is inpossible oc thatthe language ofthe tent the sume that f pcr. The lack f shoe vowel alone means that important comparative iste ar opaque (ee 2.4) “There for example no basi fortseing ese Or nation esc. tn even the interpretation of the hana orbogaphicl an aif is prob lena simp companion I think fenders the pital det Folin Larcher (asa), the orthography ofthe presi inscriptions may be compared tothe unvoweled,unpointed maaahifor Kenic manus {re Ch. 4). In thee we Know frm the reading ations that thee are ‘many way in which individ word abe rendered aed may ofthese do not coreespond o the language of poetry. A are consonant text aves ‘many interpretations open. Reading the pe-iamicinscrpts a flees of ‘etc Arabi but ene poly out of many. Beaten meng thee eres Seiesl da astecrn ote His i ated work in a comparative Trimm ma Ch) i in pty we ro ie22_Invuaton A Language ond les Sets be ofan in Ch. Sai (I 367) deren renter oF leer kor dent eatin fhe prominin of wots foe pase ‘or paul fom as its know n Anh stad. Thse ae ravi, {eran caw Ney by en sy ponunaion stot 2 fa ow asthe roncton ol consonant emit 0 ined ofthe personal name, sao baste romani sald ow tnd imam ate gen gee stetion Sawa so thet teonsrpens more sate ar the avo! So paul nt ‘fran. Sava sys apps oly tote vowel ley te bole appr ar the teaaon of oasonowhipeed se Be tt tt pera a ot ean ina ie ad hina by ip rounding Gers 713 br mote compres pone ‘stereo fis tem) The pont uty of rv ot pela ot ‘in pew etal by Sta hgh appears fo be sweeney of the onion te fran tO of ikl ae tthe four etn ele ir agen the ls of gay ree shor nal ol sin source ern or {hs asurpion nes fom ort reno in which fishes be ronan ogee we). Gens ssumpton he renee ‘gad te comple low of ‘ened atten The supe ‘wpe camp, kaw, wring The alist ark seas ‘sominstive and pn, pete, (4) Developet of pas forms in Ol Arabic accord 2 ial short vowel, ing to Btn +l proent,hai, haa a Dewan rm hing fill nd ened taaing laa aa Dowlopment of faa eading a ‘ly by ic tiaton lating at ane 4 evdopmen of doting of nl canara yen the two vowel ave to be gven phonemic tats became snot ‘predictable ia which form a high vowel wil eeu, fr instance In the Iperf verbs, tum he she wien he gathers: Howeve the siteaion is fr fom clearest i that thee i are amount of Lcd ‘rion, Sila, sole, and data general given an [ior an [uf inword one wiles find et where the same wor willappe® with the ther vowel (a) imi ~ ure‘ Fito ~ bau he es “oillusrate the situation n greater detail noe the rests fa brie survey arid ut more than en yeas gore past of aerating word, The thos in, and elie the foc wth te short igh vowel This may be ‘singular oan, a phir oun, perfect verb ora pret vee. In) the high vowel morphologic forms ected nthe survey ae give, along with thee aon-high vowel sounterpar [use the iat a standard Msative fox ony (3) high vowel oe: high vowel af soaker tase shoulder (a SG noun himire'donkey’ ———humaar‘donkey i} ia PL now sink al lara wal in SG noun, noun i lourwords Lebir'he pew wp! iubar~ ihe rows p(n perfect et 2 nego il nt oe cn ina ewe he ee se ete ta ste tn rte mee SPE she ue a shen ed kek rege aD tay ens ss he as pr oe SSeS sheet cel Se a arena i ess nes mane‘34_Old Arabic and Comparative Linguistics in imperect verb zee pushes aga he pu” i‘ doubled verb tit he si als" at impertet ver normal tater verb id hey iL jabadeoka hey pled imperet vet onal rier with objet sui rn sn Slieafencnta on me sec ra en rere renter or the t,o hrm Ne ot nl gc Pl mor fara "hie Te an api wet gun Gk ah css mo Sina s wel Lnomm when ns chee Io sn mks (SOM) and (CEN) me deed ips he sa a ACE) is een wan i pein Be ck of seh or the origin of the Abc ase on that cas in Sem where it ea Heaton may represent anole sate of fs (roceting on the sen Innovative) This pu se an Proo-Aeaie 00 surge heeds memento ikea camaamsereca ates cgiaesinestta pie intranet ns co ee vecerane me toenpe emt SES Sue oe eae Let hap eit peut attr ea pemgersre ea shire eS ironces hon pe a so np ah em aly andy tatu ce ova ete dt Se eteade Sis yc ete Seer messen ees ate ah ioe Ste SES ch ae ie ations ‘Sicteahichat erage aca Sonepat nh cae102 Case and Frot-Arabi onl not have descended crm te lal Arabic sds by Sb, "wil siempt to modiate his cim fom two perspectives Inset 4 ‘summarize thedisbuton of ements which pssbly point to traces of ee, tnd insect. 3.4, addres aspects of the question of syllabic reorazton ‘whichis imple by he os the ial short vowel 2M Cate ces? is it i de he seamen ee vei ental eon ne os omen che 2 third is treated only cursoriy at this point, being the subjet of summa: ‘tle mp ey renege mo ected entry ‘art et caer ‘tu be borrowed from the standard language, and If they are relics of Sein fv tev ant tal hes Syeuecemen te eet teh winng-ac open caus eae Seeman ner ee, mei Gach mg ich ete a roy oma ar arc test ese ‘Sina tata a se eae erent ect ington as nave, acute tine a es 8 Seow tiem te ink’ nine te : ‘eS rena nn Src hai Ne sen Pro Arie wn jon to nouns ening ‘Theol sini ares oven an iting aon o sounding in ng owl Fr tee, ray bration ef ean ‘Arb ada information on ths pint rom ober res i kin (Ot Arabic nouns are casomaly represented a ending in a Tong vowel he writen with final =a avin Saas, hada ‘ide, 20d ‘pd Judge! When a pronominal sfx add the lng s apparent fom ‘be ontogtpy. (9) Sagat ‘your sick naam tic judge’ When the indefinite -nis added the Bina vowels sid toe sorened. though ala stil writen orthographic long. (Sgn ic eae erhalten somo bjt trpreaton (ee 27b engtie gveo Taal vorel and hoe wich shorten slong owe The OH Arb ine “ren es ston ei wh Nin Aric wel fra thr dacs 1 nol! eee! + Sa oe Jena When pronominal oe eh ‘uk The dferenc ing conioed bythe ates ae 3st ‘erie WC oC) fom nd the word me i Gi apd when fed ses ifthe enticed (0) nm ong i ' _gitnaagi ‘drums’ vs, ganaaigi-hum ‘theicM drums’ cette Deh ndanotnacendaghing ao (2) tage amayans amen an Cr Rog Frogs oh itipeton vote magna tran Ring dams many nn wi any — cei thn aa eV Spe ec ta