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Arabic script: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Arabic script
In the 6th and 5th centuries before the common era, a nomadic tribe known as the Nabataeans established a powerful kingdom centered around Petra in modern-day Jordan, yet they did not write the language they spoke. Instead, these northern Arab tribes adopted the Aramaic alphabet, the lingua franca of trade and communication, and began to infuse it with their own linguistic features. This hybrid script, known as Nabataean, evolved over centuries into two distinct forms: a formal, monumental style used for stone inscriptions and a hurried, cursive version designed for writing on papyrus. It was this fluid, cursive form that would eventually shed its Aramaic skin to become the Arabic script, transforming from a tool of commerce into the vessel for the Quran and the spread of a global religion. The script's journey began not with a decree, but with the practical needs of a people who needed to record their trade deals while speaking a different tongue, creating a unique bridge between the spoken and written word that would eventually span continents.
From Petra To The Quran
The transformation of the Nabataean cursive into the Arabic script was a gradual process that occurred over several centuries, culminating in the 6th century when the script was first used to write texts in Arabic, most notably the Quran. The script was written from right to left in a cursive style, in which most of the letters are written in slightly different forms according to whether they stand alone or are joined to a following or preceding letter. This cursive nature meant that the script was inherently fluid, allowing for the rapid development of calligraphy as an art form. The script is unicase and does not have distinct capital or lowercase letters, which meant that the visual flow of the text was continuous and unbroken. In most cases, the letters transcribe consonants, or consonants and a few vowels, so most Arabic alphabets are abjads, with the versions used for some languages, such as Sorani dialect of Kurdish, Kashmiri, Gorani, Uyghur, Mandarin, and Serbo-Croatian, being alphabets. The script's ability to adapt to different languages made it a versatile tool for communication, allowing it to spread far beyond its original homeland.
The Letters Of The World
The Arabic script has been adapted for use in a wide variety of languages aside from Arabic, including Persian, Malay and Urdu, which are not Semitic. Such adaptations may feature altered or new characters to represent phonemes that do not appear in Arabic phonology. For example, the Arabic language lacks a voiceless bilabial plosive (the p sound), therefore many languages add their own letter to represent p in the script, though the specific letter used varies from language to language. These modifications tend to fall into groups: Indian and Turkic languages written in the Arabic script tend to use the Persian modified letters, whereas the languages of Indonesia tend to imitate those of Jawi. The modified version of the Arabic script originally devised for use with Persian is known as the Perso-Arabic script by scholars. When the Arabic script is used to write Serbo-Croatian, Sorani, Kashmiri, Mandarin Chinese, or Uyghur, vowels are mandatory. The Arabic script can, therefore, be used as a true alphabet as well as an abjad, although it is often strongly, if erroneously, connected to the latter due to it being originally used only for Arabic.
Common questions
When did the Arabic script first appear in written form?
The Arabic script first appeared in written form in the 6th century when it was used to write texts in Arabic, most notably the Quran. This script evolved from the cursive form of the Nabataean script over several centuries. The process began with the Nabataeans adopting the Aramaic alphabet in the 6th and 5th centuries before the common era.
Who developed the Arabic script from the Nabataean alphabet?
The nomadic tribe known as the Nabataeans developed the Arabic script from the Aramaic alphabet. They established a powerful kingdom centered around Petra in modern-day Jordan and began to infuse the Aramaic alphabet with their own linguistic features. This hybrid script eventually shed its Aramaic skin to become the Arabic script.
Which languages use the Arabic script besides Arabic?
The Arabic script is used to write Persian, Malay, Urdu, Serbo-Croatian, Sorani, Kashmiri, Mandarin, Uyghur, Hausa, Yoruba, Swahili, and Wolof. The modified version of the Arabic script originally devised for use with Persian is known as the Perso-Arabic script by scholars. These adaptations may feature altered or new characters to represent phonemes that do not appear in Arabic phonology.
When was the Bilali Document written and where is it located?
The Bilali Document was written by Bilali Mohammet in the 19th century. It is a handwritten, Arabic manuscript on West African Islamic law that is currently housed in the library at the University of Georgia. The script was also used to write the letter by Ayuba Suleiman Diallo who lived from 1701 to 1773 and the letter by Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori who lived from 1762 to 1829.
When did Turkey change to the Latin alphabet?
Turkey changed to the Latin alphabet in 1928 as part of an internal Westernizing revolution. The Arabic script was generally replaced by the Latin alphabet in the Balkans, parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia during the 20th century. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, many of the Turkic languages of the ex-USSR attempted to follow Turkey's lead and convert to a Turkish-style Latin alphabet.
Use of the Arabic script in West African languages, especially in the Sahel, developed with the spread of Islam. To a certain degree the style and usage tends to follow those of the Maghreb, for instance the position of the dots in the letters and. Additional diacritics have come into use to facilitate the writing of sounds not represented in the Arabic language. The term Ajami, which comes from the Arabic root for foreign, has been applied to Arabic-based orthographies of African languages. This script was used to write Hausa, Yoruba, Swahili, Wolof, and Yoruba, and was documented use likely between the 15th to 18th century. The script was also used to write the Bilali Document, a handwritten, Arabic manuscript on West African Islamic law, written by Bilali Mohammet in the 19th century. The document is currently housed in the library at the University of Georgia. The script was also used to write the letter by Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, who lived from 1701 to 1773, and the letter by Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori, who lived from 1762 to 1829. The script was also used to write the writings of African American slaves, including the letter by Omar Ibn Said, who lived from 1770 to 1864.
The Great Script Shifts
With the establishment of Muslim rule in the subcontinent, one or more forms of the Arabic script were incorporated among the assortment of scripts used for writing native languages. In the 20th century, the Arabic script was generally replaced by the Latin alphabet in the Balkans, parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia, while in the Soviet Union, after a brief period of Latinisation, use of Cyrillic was mandated. Turkey changed to the Latin alphabet in 1928 as part of an internal Westernizing revolution. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, many of the Turkic languages of the ex-USSR attempted to follow Turkey's lead and convert to a Turkish-style Latin alphabet. However, renewed use of the Arabic alphabet has occurred to a limited extent in Tajikistan, whose language's close resemblance to Persian allows direct use of publications from Afghanistan and Iran. The script was also used to write the letter by Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, who lived from 1701 to 1773, and the letter by Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori, who lived from 1762 to 1829. The script was also used to write the writings of African American slaves, including the letter by Omar Ibn Said, who lived from 1770 to 1864.
The Digital Age
As of Unicode, the following ranges encode Arabic characters: Arabic (0600, 06FF), Arabic Supplement (0750, 077F), Arabic Extended-A (08A0, 08FF), Arabic Extended-B (0870, 089F), Arabic Extended-C (10EC0, 10EFF), Arabic Presentation Forms-A (FB50, FDFF), Arabic Presentation Forms-B (FE70, FEFF), Arabic Mathematical Alphabetic Symbols (1EE00, 1EEFF), Rumi Numeral Symbols (10E60, 10E7F), Indic Siyaq Numbers (1EC70, 1ECBF), and Ottoman Siyaq Numbers (1ED00, 1ED4F). The script has been adapted for use in a wide variety of languages aside from Arabic, including Persian, Malay and Urdu, which are not Semitic. Such adaptations may feature altered or new characters to represent phonemes that do not appear in Arabic phonology. For example, the Arabic language lacks a voiceless bilabial plosive (the p sound), therefore many languages add their own letter to represent p in the script, though the specific letter used varies from language to language. These modifications tend to fall into groups: Indian and Turkic languages written in the Arabic script tend to use the Persian modified letters, whereas the languages of Indonesia tend to imitate those of Jawi. The modified version of the Arabic script originally devised for use with Persian is known as the Perso-Arabic script by scholars. When the Arabic script is used to write Serbo-Croatian, Sorani, Kashmiri, Mandarin Chinese, or Uyghur, vowels are mandatory. The Arabic script can, therefore, be used as a true alphabet as well as an abjad, although it is often strongly, if erroneously, connected to the latter due to it being originally used only for Arabic.