Part 2: The Impact Of The Arabs On Western Civilization
Image: Statue of Averroes, Córdoba, Andalusia, Spain, Europe
Read Part 1 of 2 HERE
By: Habeeb Salloum/Contributing Writer
In their golden years, the Arabs led the world in all fields of human knowledge and contributed immensely to the evolvement of the world of that time. This is attested to by the many Arabic words in the modern European languages.
In the first 500 hundred years of Islam, Arabic became the intellectual and scientific language of the entire scholastic world. Men of letters and scientists in both eastern and western lands had to know Arabic if they wished to produce works of art or science.
During these centuries, Arab Andalusia by itself generated more books in Arabic than were produced in all the other languages of Europe. The Arabic libraries in Muslim Spain, some containing over half a million manuscripts, had no match in all the countries of Christendom.
Unlike the remainder of Europe of the time where only the clergy were literate, the majority of people in Arab Spain learned to read and write in the schools which were to be found in almost every town. European students from the northern Christian lands came to study in these institutions and when they returned, their vocabularies were enriched with many Arabic words and phrases.
At the same time, the Christians in the Iberian Peninsula living under Muslim rule became proficient in Arabic, in many cases preferring it to their own Romance languages. Hence, in both the written and spoken idioms, Arabic words crept into the linguistic heritage of Spain and these were later adopted by the other European languages.
Dozy in Spanish Islam explains how the Christians were captivated by the glamor of Arabic literature and that men of taste despised Latin authors, and wrote only in the language of their conquerors. He cites Alvaro de Córdoba, a contemporary writer of the 9th century, who deplores this fact with these words:
“‘My fellow-Christians,’ he says, ‘delight in the poems and romances of the Arabs; they study the works of Mohammedan theologians and philosophers, not in order to refute them, but to acquire a correct and elegant Arabic style. Where today can a layman be found who reads the Latin Commentaries on Holy Scriptures? Who is there that studies the Gospels, the Prophets, the Apostles? They read and study Arabian books and everywhere they sing the praises of Arabian lore… The pity of it! Christians have forgotten their own tongue, and scarce one in a thousand can be found able to compose in fair Latin a letter to a friend! But when it comes to writing Arabic, how many there are who can express themselves in that language with the greatest elegance, and even compose verses which surpass in formal correctness those of the Arabs themselves!’”
A glimpse at Cordoba of the 10th century will give one an idea of why Arab Spain was so much sought after by scholars in the medieval world. Located on the river Guadalquivar, the Arabic wadi al-kabir, one of more than 2,300 names of Spanish towns and rivers still carrying their Arabic names, it was the political, cultural and intellectual capital of Arab Spain and, perhaps, the most important city in the medieval world.
Image: Cordoba, Spain
In that era, the city had 1,000,000 literate inhabitants and was one of the most important cities in the Muslim world. It overflowed with grand buildings and houses of learning that defused knowledge to mankind.
Within and outside its walls, it had 21 suburbs; 12 royal palaces; 3,000 country villas surrounded by gardens filled with exotic plants; 1,600 mosques; 900 public baths; 70 libraries; over 200,000 homes; 63,000 mansions; and 80,000 shops.
Miles of streets were paved and brightly lit. Sewers carried away the refuse and well-kept parks dotted the city – this at a time when Paris, the largest city in Christian Europe, had a population of 10,000 of mostly illiterate inhabitants, with no sewers and lights and only streets of padded earth. For those of you who remember the Hollywood movie, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ you will recall Sir Alec Guiness in his portrayal of Prince Faysal telling Lawrence of this fact.
The heart of Arab Cordoba was for centuries its Great Mosque which was the largest and foremost house of worship in the western Islamic world. Its construction was initiated in 785 A.D. by the Umayyad ‘Abd al-Rahman I who was the first Arab to rule, independent from the Caliphate in Baghdad, over most of the Iberian Peninsula. In later centuries, succeeding rulers enlarged and beautified the mosque until it evolved into what became known as the jewel of Islam. By the year 1000 A. D., it was considered to be one of the wonders of the medieval world.
As befitting a queen of cities and a spring of enlightenment, poets and men of letters wrote in glowing terms when describing its splendour. An Arab poet once rhapsodized:
“Do not talk about the court of Baghdad and its glittering magnificence. Do not praise Persia and China for their beauty and greatness. For there is no spot on earth like Cordoba.”
Is it any wonder then that Arab Andalusia was the mecca for Europeans who sought knowledge?
As they borrowed from the rich storehouse of Arabic scientific and technical words, the Christian languages were enhanced and stimulated. Added to this, the movement of Arabic words into the tongues of Europe was accelerated by the translation of Arabic books, mostly in Toledo – a city captured early in the Reconquista. Hundreds of Arabic words entered the European languages by way of these translations.
Historians have asserted that the reproduction of Arabic works from the most advanced civilization in that age transformed European thinking and put that continent on the road to advancement and prosperity.
It was only natural that the West would borrow words from the Muslim East – the most advanced part of the world in that era. In the same fashion as in our times words from English – the language of industry and science – creep into foreign tongues, so it was with Arabic at the time of the Crusades.
In the medieval centuries, on a continuing basis, Arabic words flowed into English from the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and the Middle East many through other languages like French, Portuguese and, especially Spanish.
Later, from the 18th to the 20th centuries, when Britain expanded its Empire to the four corners of the world, a variety of Arabic words entered English by way of Africa, the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent. Even after colonialism disappeared, the inflow of Arabic words into English has continued until our time.
If one leafs through the modern English dictionaries, words of Arabic origin are to be found under every letter of the alphabet. It will surprise many to know that in a study made of the Skeats Etymological Dictionary, it was found that Arabic is the seventh on the list of languages that has contributed to the enrichment of English. Only Greek, Latin, French, German, Scandinavian and the Celtic group of languages have contributed more than Arabic to the tongue of Shakespeare.
Along with a late colleague, James Peters, we have published a small work of the Arabic words in the English language. In our study, we have found that there are at least 8,000 English words of Arabic origin – 3,000 original words and another 5,000 derivatives of these words. At least a 1,000 of these are employed in the everyday language; the others are rarely used but are found in the large dictionaries.
These Arabic loan-words indicate that the Arabs contributed to almost all areas of western life. In architecture; food and drink; geography and navigation; home and daily life; music and song; personal adornment; cultivation of plants; the sciences which include astronomy, botany, mathematics, optics and medicine; sports; trade and commerce; zoology; the clothing and fabric trade; and in the fields of chemicals, colour and minerals one finds Arabic words and Arab transmitted words into English from other languages.
Image: Arabic calligraphy at al-Hambra (Granada, Andalusia, Spain)
One can see the immense Arab contribution to English if we examine only one of these areas. Let’s look at food and drink:
Alcohol is derived from the Arabic al-kuhl
apricot – al-barquq
artichoke – al-khurshuf
arrack – ‘araq
banana – banan
candy qand
cane – qanah
caramel – qanah
caraway – karawiya
carob – kharrub
coffee and cafe – qahwah
cumin – kammun
jasmine – yasmin
julep – julab
kabab or kabob – kabab
lemon, lemonade and lime – laymun
mocha – mukha (port city in Yemen)
orange – naranj
saffron – za’faran
salep – tha’lab
sesame – simsim
sherbet – sharbah
sherry – Sherish (the Arab name of the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia)
spinach – isbanakh
sugar – sukkar
sumach – summaq
syrup – sharab
tamarind – tamr hindi
tangerine – Tanjah (Arabic name for Tangiers, Morocco)
tarragon – tarkhun
tumeric – kurkum and
tuna – tun
Even in our times, the Arabic contribution has not stopped. As in most other fields, in the domain of food and drink the flow of Arabic words into English continues. During the 20th century the words: burghul or burghal, from the Arabic burghul; couscous – kuskus; falafel – filafil; halvah – halawa; hummus – hummu; kibbe or kibbeh – kubba; leban – laban; shish kebab – shish kabab; and taboula – tabbula are now to be found in most dictionaries as English words.
With this background, the Arabs of today are well set to re-emerge as leaders in the evolvement of the world. They are virtually the only people who once established a great civilization, then declined, but unlike others, they did not fade away.
Where are the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Mongols, Ottomans and others who created great empires? They are now non-existent or very few in numbers. Only some 400 million Arabs, spread across North Africa and the Middle East still have the capability of once again becoming great.
They have their more than 5,000 years of civilization, the intellect and the wealth to become the leaders of nations. When the vast majority of the educated Arabs in our times decry the weakness and fragmentation of the Arab world, I remember as a young man looking at a map searching for an independent Arab country. There were none.
With time and determination, the Arabs have awakened from their slumber and are now rediscovering themselves. The hundreds of years of foreign occupation have left an almost indelible imprint of insecurity on the Arab mind, but with realization of their history and civilization, and therefore an un-surmounting pride, they are today slowly coming into their own.
Some of the English Words of Arabic Origin
Architecture
alcove (al-qubba) ogee (awj)
baroque (burqa) ogive (awj)
Animals and Birds:
albatross (al-qadus) camel (jamal)
gazelle (ghazal) giraffe (zarafa)
jerboa (yarbu) monkey (maymum)
nacre (naqqara) popinjay (babbaghgha’)
saluki (saluq) tuna (tun)
Varan (waran)
Chemicals, Colors and Minerals
alkali (al-qili) amalgam (al-malgham)
antimony (al-uthmud) arsenic (al-zirnikh)
azure (lazaward) bismuth (uthmud)
borax (bawraq) camphor (kafur)
cinnabar (zinjafr) carmine (qirmizi)
crimson (qirmiz) elixir (al-iksir)
gypsum (jibs) kale (qili)
lacquer (lakk) musk (misk)
myrrh (murr) natron & nitre (natrun)
realgar (rahj al-ghar) scarlet (siqillat)
soda (suda’) talc (talq)
tutty (tutiya) zircon (zarqun)
Clothing and Fabric Trade
caftan (quftan) camlet (khamla)
chiffon (shaff) cotton (qutn)
damask (dimashq) fustian (Fustat)
gauze (Ghazza) jupe (jubba)
macrame (miqramah) mohair (mukhayyar)
muslin (musil) sandal (sandal)
sash (shash) satin (zaytuni)
tabby (attaabi) taffeta (tafata)
Food and Drink
scallion (‘asqalan) tangerine (tanja)
sherbet (sharab) tarragon (tarkhun)
tumeric (kurkum)
Geography and Navigation
admiral (amir al-bahr) Alhambra (al-hamra’)
canal (qanah) Gibraltar (Jabal Tariq)
monsoon (mawsim) safari (safara)
sahara (sahara) saracen (sharqiyin)
Trafalgar (taraf al-ghar) typhoon (tufan)
xebec (shabbak) Zanzibar (Zanjibar)
Home and Daily Life
adobe (al-tub) cable (habl)
calabash (khirbiz) carafe (gharafah)
carboy (qirba) divan (diwan)
genius (jinn) hazard (al-zahr)
jar (jarra) kismet (qisma)
massage (massa’) mattress (matrah)
mulatto (muwallad) nabob and Nob Hill (na’ib)
ottoman (‘uthman) sofa (suffa)
Music and Song
fret (fard) guitar (qitar)
flamenco (fallah manji) hocket (iqa’at)
lute (‘ud) tabor and tambour
(tanbur)
timbal (tabl) troubadour (tarab al-dar)
Personal Adornment
amber (‘anbar) attar (‘atr)
cameo (chumahan- civit (zabad)
from Persian through Arabic)
khol (kuhl) henna (hinna’)
lapis lazuli (lazaward) mask and mascara (maskhara)
sequin (sikka) talisman (tilasm)
Plants
alfalfa (al-fisfisa) anil (al-nil)
crocus (kurkum) hashish (hashish)
lilac (laylak) safflower (asfar)
Science and mathematics
almanac (al-manakh) alchemy (al-kimiya’)
alembic (al-inbiq) algebra (al-jabr)
algorism (al-khuwarizmi) average (‘awar)
calibre (qalib) carat (qirat)
chemistry (al-kimiya’) cipher, chiffre and zero (sifr)
Sky
auge (‘awj) azimuth (al-samt)
nadir (nazir) zenith (samt al-ra’s)
Sports
checkmate and chess (al-shah mat) bally-ho (bi-Allah)
racket (raha) tennis (tinnis)
Stars
Aldebaran (al-dabaran) Achernar (akhir al-nahr)
Algol (al-ghul) Alphard (al-fard)
Altair (al-ta’ir) Betelgeuse (bayt al-jawza’)
Deneb (dhanab) Etamin (al-tannin)
Fomalbaut (fam al-hut) Juza (jawza’)
Menkar (minkhar) Merak (marikh al-dubb)
Mizar (mi’zar) rigel (rijl)
Vega (al-nisr al-waqi’)
Theatre of the Macabre (maqbara)
assassin (hashashin) ghoul (ghul)
mafia (mu’afi) mask & masquerade (maskhara)
mumy (mumiya’) massacre (maslakh)
Trade and commerce
arsenal (dar al-sina’a) bazaar (bazar)
cafe (qahwa) check, cheque & exchequer (sakk)
dragoman (turjuman) magazine (makhzan)
ream (rizma) tare (tarhah)
traffic (tafriq) tariff (ta’rifah)
Habeeb Salloum
