Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 38:152 (Oct 1881)
Article: Remarks Upon The Languages Of The Arabs And The Turks
Author: H. S. Osborn

BSac 38:152 (Oct 1881) p. 646

Remarks Upon The Languages Of The Arabs And The Turks

Prof. H. S. Osborn

The language of Syria and Palestine is the Arabic. This is the most ancient and at the same time the best preserved of all living languages. We have good reasons to believe that it is at the present time spoken in the deserts of Arabia in the same state in which it existed five thousand years ago, having in those far distant and almost inaccessible places never undergone any modifications by contact with foreign elements, nor been acted upon by the least literary influences to which other languages owe their successive changes and transformations. Arabic is also the most far-extended language of the globe. It is spoken or understood wherever Mohammedans are found, from Morocco to the eastern confines of Hindustan, and therefore is most valuable and important for the traveller in the Orient. It is, moreover, the richest of all known languages; and as an illustration it is sufficient here to mention that there exist over one thousand words for horse, about eleven hundred synonymous expressions for lion, twelve hundred for camel, five hundred for sword, etc. The Arabic offers an interest also to the biblical scholar and to the theologian, as it is the only really living remnant of that family of ancient languages to which the Hebrew belongs; and as many expressions and forms of words occur but once in the sacred text (the so-called ἅπαξ λεγόμενα in the Old Testament) Arabic throws an inestimable light on the Hebrew language, and becomes thereby a great help in explaining the difficulties and apparent obscurities of the Bible.

Thus the language of the Arabs is, on account of its an-

BSac 38:152 (Oct 1881) p. 647

tiquity, its intimate relationship to the Hebrew, and its extensive use, at the same time one of the most valuable, interesting, and useful languages that exist. Arabic is to the other languages of Asia where Mohammedanism prevails what Latin is to the study of the various modern tongues of Europe; that is to say, the lexical treasures of the Arabic language have been appropriated in various proportions by many of the often quite heterogeneous languages spoken by nations of the Orient which profess Mohammedanism. Thus a very considerable amount of Arabic words have entered as a component part into Turkish, Persian, Hindustani, Malayan, etc. Even in our modern languages, in Spanish, French, and English, words are to be found which can only be explained by the Arabic from which they derive their origin. This applies not only to scientific expressions, such as alchemy, almanac, alembic, alcohol, alkali, azimuth, nadir, etc. [thus, for instance, in algebra, al is the article the, and <...