The Origins of Arabic

Thank you for your comment anonymous.

Anonymous said...
Interesting post. I always wondered how the keypad symbols related back to Arabic letters. One thing though: I don't think that Arabic originated from Sanskrit. Its from a totally different linguisitc family: Semitic vs Indo-European.

My sources on this particular post was Wikipedia (granted not always the "best" source) but from what I know of the language, it seemed accurate. Here is some additional information about the history of the Arabic language:

http://www.indiana.edu/~arabic/arabic_history.htm

The Semitic language family is a descendant of proto-Semitic, an ancient language that was exclusively spoken and has no written record. This relationship places Arabic firmly in the Afro-Asiatic group of world languages. Specifically, Arabic is part of the Semitic subgroup of Afro-Asiatic languages. Going further into the relationship between Arabic and the other Semitic languages, Modern Arabic is considered to be part of the Arab-Canaanite sub-branch the central group of the Western Semitic languages. Thus, to review, while Arabic is not the oldest of the Semitic languages, its roots are clearly founded in a Semitic predecessor.

Aside from Arabic, the Semitic language family includes Hebrew, Aramaic, Maltese, Amharic, Tigrinya, Tigre, Gurage, Geez, Syrica, Akkadian, Phonoecian, Punic, Ugaritic, Nabatean, Amorite and Moabite. While a majority of these are now considered "dead" languages, either entirely obsolete or used only in religious practice, Arabic has flourished. The reason for this is inextricably linked with the rise of Islam and, more specifically, Islam’s holy book, the Qur’an.

I hope that helps clarify a little bit. My apologies if I passed along some incorrect information. I write with the best of intentions.

Please keep the comments/questions coming. I will try to do better in responding in a more timely fashion.

Arabic Words Written in English Characters

Thank you for your comment tatortots71. Here is the "quick reference" guide to Arabic letters that do not have English counterparts and, therefore, are represented by numbers.

2 = eh' (sounds a bit like a cute/light hiccup)

3 = ein (hard, deep, guttural)

5 = kh (hard, back of the throat)

7 = ha (hard, deep, guttural "h")

' = used as a verbal "pause" within a word

I, truly, have NO idea where this system came from or who or how it was invented, but it is fairly common when writing Arabic words with English characters.

Just to give you a little background on the Arabic language. We have 28 letters (not much more than the 26 in English). However, like most languages that originate from sanskrit, the "vowels" are represented by characters above and below the consonants. These are in addition to the 28.

Arabic has a few that do not exist in English and there are a few in English that do not exist in Arabic. For example, there is no "P" in Arabic. So, when you visit the Middle East, you'll probably hear people say "Bebsi" for Pepsi and "Bizza" for pizza. My personal favorite is "beoble" for "people." You guys get the idea. =)

If you'd like additional information on the language of Arabic (in the "SEMITIC" language family ... btw), I found Wikipedia to be a decent source on this particular topic and you can read more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language

I hope that helps. Please keep the questions coming.