نظرة جديدة إلى مفهومي "العرب" و"العربية"

Abstract

The Arabs are known from Babylonian, Assyrian, Greek, Persians inscriptions and also from the Old Testament. The word “‘arabi" includes race and nationality in addition to Bedouin nomads. A little before the dawn of Islam the word "’a‘rᾱbi" referred to the Arab nomads, and later the word "badawῑ" was used instead. there is no doubt that the two kinds of Arabic (southern and northern Arabic) were used for many years BCE as can be verified by findings and inscriptions which were discovered recently.

There are those who see the "Thamudic" Language, "Safaic" and - "Lihyanit" as transition languages between the southern and the northern Arabic languages. The continuance of these languages, beginning probably, from the -3^rd Century C.E. has resulted in the current Arabic language.

The differences between the Arab dialects did not cause lack of intelligibility between the tribes. Likewise, it is impossible to pinpoint geographic boundaries that separated the northern Arabic from the southern. I suggest dividing the Arabs into to "‘arab bᾱqiya" and "‘arab bᾱ’ida".

Before Islam the dialect of Quraysh was most respected among Arab dialects because of the social, political, religious and economic status of this tribe. As a result of contact between the Arab tribes in Makka, a common language was created later called "’al‘arabiyya (a)l-fuşḥa" or "Standard Arabic". Each tribe had his special dialect and the fuşḥa language was used for communication between tribes.