Classical arabic

Versos del Corán in classical Arabic.

Classical Arabic, also called Learned Arabic, in Arabic العربيّة الفصحى and Quranic Arabic, is a variety of the Arabic language. Classical Arabic is the form of the Arabic language used in Umayyad and Abbasid texts (VII and IX). It is based on the medieval dialects of the Arab tribes. Modern Standard Arabic is a direct descendant of the language used modernly throughout the Arab world, used in written and formal spoken language, for example, speeches and radio broadcasts. While the stylistics and lexis of Modern Standard Arabic is distinct from Classical Arabic, the morphology and syntax have remained basically unchanged. The vernacular dialects, however, have changed more drastically. In the Arab world little distinction is made between classical and modern standard Arabic, both being called al-fuṣḥā (الفصحى) in Arabic meaning "the eloquent one".

History

The origin of Classical Arabic is found in the northern and central parts of the Arabian peninsula and is distinct from the southern Old Arabic languages which were spoken in the southern part of the peninsula, in modern Yemen. Classical Arabic is the only surviving language of the Old Arabic languages of the north. The oldest classical Arabic inscription dates to AD 328. C. and is known as the "Namāra inscription". It was written in the Nabataean alphabet and found in southern Syria in April 1901.

With the spread of Islam, classical Arabic became a language of international importance and religious devotion, since it is the language in which the Qur'an was written. Its relationship to modern dialects is similar to the relationship between Latin and the Romance languages or between Middle Chinese and the Chinese language.

Use

In Arabic it is often called al-luġa al-‘arabiyya al-fuṣḥā اللغة العربيّة الفصحى, "the most eloquent Arabic language". It is based on the spoken and literary modalities in use in the Hijaz region in the 7th century. It is originally fixed by the Qur'an and pre-Islamic Arabic poetry.

Parallel to the literary and official use of Classical Arabic, different modalities of dialectal Arabic or spoken Arabic have been developed that have coexisted with Classical in a situation of diglossia. There is discussion about whether these dialectal varieties come from a transformation of classical Arabic or whether their origin must be sought directly in pre-Islamic dialects.

Since the 19th century, Classical Arabic has given rise to a sub-variety that is sometimes called Modern Cult Arabic, Modern Literal Arabic, or Standard Arabic.

Morphology

Classical Arabic belongs to the Semitic family of languages and therefore bears numerous similarities in pronunciation and conjugation with languages such as Hebrew, Aramaic, Akkadian, and Amharic. Its use of vowels to modify a base consonant cluster is similar to Biblical Hebrew.

For example:

• kataba, He wrote
• already.ktubu, He writes
• MaktūbOne, (words)
• kitābOne, book
• kutubOne, books
• kitābAtun, writing
• kitābātun, (female wall)
• MaktabOne, office, desk
• MaktabAtun, library
• kātibOne, writer
• kātibūna, writers (male wall)
• kuttābOne, writers (internal wall)
• myktābOne, typewriter

Writing

Arabic belongs to the Semitic language family, a language family originating in the Middle East, to which Hebrew and Aramaic also belong. It is noteworthy that the Arabic script, known as the Arabic alphabet, derives very directly from the Aramaic alphabet. Neither of these two alphabets usually transcribe short vowels (although some long ones do). In classical Arabic, and in particular for the compilation of the Qur'an, special punctuation marks were developed to mark short vowels, indicated above the lines by special punctuation. Arabic is written from right to left.