Arabic language had great influence on many languages and Middle English was not an exception. By the 8th century Arabic language drove out Latin as the dominant Language, The Arabic civilization was able to spread and flourish throughout the Spain by the 11th and 12th century. As a matter of fact John the bishop of Seville was translating the Bible into Arabic (Metlitzki 5). These events made some European scholars to show interest in learning Arabic, mostly in the field of mathematics and astronomy. The most notable scholars who were interested in Arabic were Adelard of Bath (c. 1080-c.1150) who have travelled from England to mainland Europe to study Arabic, he had translated the astronomical tables of Al-Khawarizmi into Latin. Soon “Arabum studia” which literary means Arabic studies became a legitimate pursuit in twelfth century England. In the mid 1600’s Edward Pococke the scholar and author of Specimen of the history of Arabs, held the Laudial chair in Arabic at Oxford University, and Gerard Langbaine , Keeper of the Archives of the University, had the position as the University’s Arabic type (Burnett 81)
Beside interest in science there was a strong connection between Arabic and European culture. That’s due to the crusade and trades. As a result a lot of Arabic words for food, spices, clothes, and game found their way into Europe directly and into middle Europe indirectly through French. Since French was the language of educated in England during that period (Bough and Cable)England and France were in close contact with each other, so that a lot of Arabic words were transferred into middle English through French. For example the the word Barrbican comes into the Middle English Language (c. 1300) through the old French barbic...
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... According to Cannon Arabic loanwords first attested in Chaucer’s works include:
Astronomy clothing military chemistry games miscellaneous
Almagest almanac almucantar almury Alnath
Nadir Satin gipon Lance
Gay
jupon alkali azimuth borax tartar amalgam Fers checkmate Damask, Sarsenish
Fen
Arabic
Ribibe
carrack dulcarnon
(Cannon, 47).
We clearly observe the popularity of the game of chess in the Middle English period, we could arrive at such conclusion from Chaucer’s works that he uses the loan words from Arabic. One of the words that he uses is “checkmate” which comes from the Arabic and Persian “shahmat,” which means “the king is dead,” and the noun “fers,” which is from the Arabic word “firzan,” which means “wise man or counselor” (OED). From these usages we could clearly see the influence of Arabic on the Middle English period Culturally and Linguistically.
The modern world is linked through networks of communication and exchange between peoples. These exchanges between regions has changed cultures, economics, and politics. Through time the cultural influence between regions has consisted of many factors and elements but comes down to the spread of religion and religious teachings , movement of peoples, technological and cultural advancements affecting trade and commerce. Beginning with the Middle Ages in the years 1100-1500 , Africa, Asia, and Europe developed and influenced each other in several different ways. Starting with religion. The birth of Islam in the Middle East rapidly spread throughout Afro- Eurasia. Islam was attractive to people who were uninterested in the requirements of Christianity and the Church.
Ibn Khaldun. “Il Muqaddimah.” Ed. Paul Davis. Gary Harrison. David M. Johnson. John F. Crawford. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. Page Range:1732-1739. Print.
Nomadic pastoralist peoples have had a dramatic impact on world history on several occasions. Generally speaking, their impact has been destructive and short-lived. The Arab conquests, from 632 onwards, of the Middle East and North Africa brought about certain consequences. Alone among other nomad warriors, the Arabs brought with them a dominant religion, Islam, and this in its train contributed a written language of high culture and, later, of administration. Arabic has become a language of religion and government, as well as the spoken vernacular of almost the entire population from the Zagros Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Old Testament is a collection of writings, written and edited by members of the Hebrew-Jewish community between the twelfth century B.C. and the beginning of the Christian era. It consists of such diverse materials as prophetic oracles, teachings of wise men, instructions of priests and ancient records of the royal courts. Some material is historical, some is legendary; some is legalistic, some is didactic. For the most part the writings were written in Hebrew, but a few passages were written in Aramaic, a kindred language which came into common use among the Jews during the post-Exilic era. The Aramaic portions include Dan. 2:4-7:28; Ezra 4:8-6:18, 7:12-26; Jer. 10:11; and one phrase in Gen. 31:47 "Jegar-sahadutha," translated "Heap of Witness."
Crusades. The. This increased contact created a direct cultural diffusion that would hurt the Muslims in time. These Crusaders would learn the local language and learn words such as Alchemy, Algebra and Zenith that had never been created in the Languages spoken by the crusaders. Also, from being in the Middle East for so long, crusaders learned of new sciences created by the Muslims such as Chemistry and Astronomy.
Natural philosophy might have played a much smaller role in Islamic science but is not to be overlooked. Al ma’mun built observatories as high as three stories in order to gain a better understanding of the cosmos. With these tools, Islamic astronomers made accurate descriptions of the heavens and created their own geocentric views of the orbits of the heavenly bodies. Attached to many of these observatories were great libraries. Islamic libraries contained a wealth of knowledge which was taken from other civilizations and translated to Arabic such as the House of Wisdom. These libraries had upwards of 2 million books, a massive accomplishment considering they did not have movable type. The Islamic Empire also saw great advances in mathematical understanding with the creation of trigonometry and algebra.
Ebonics is not the only language of the African diaspora that preserved its Africanity. In addition to several African influenced creoles, the Gullah language of the Sea Islands is reflective of African spirituality and philosophy. The Gullah language developed among enslaved Africans along the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, as well as the Sea Islands (Turner, 1). This region can be referred to as the Coast. In the early 18th century slaves from the West Indies, where resistance had grown common, as well as rebellious slaves from various colonies were being sent to the Coast. Taxes were placed upon these imported slaves because they were thought to have the ability of corrupting the slave system on the coast. Thus, slave
Arabic, like most other common languages, Arabic was spread throughout the world by trade and the conquering of other countries. The majority however, was done by the means of trade. This is because, the Islamic world became the centre of many academic fields such as mathematics, astronomy, medicine, philosophy and various of sciences. Therefore, understanding Arabic became an essential skill for traders and travellers alike. This is how, these concepts and ideas were spread across Europe and the rest of the world. For that reason, modern English includes words originating from the Arabic language. These words are “admiral” from “amir-ar-ahl,” meaning chief of the transport: “sequin” derived from “sikkah,” a die used for coin making: and “jar” from “jarrah,” a large earthen
Islamic civilization began in Arabia, but it spread to many areas in the proximity of the peninsula. It spread as far as Spain, as well as many areas between the two locations. The civilization reached the Eastern Roman Empire, Persia, Egypt, and Africa. The Muslim warriors were extremely courageous, and their religious zeal aided in the conquests of many empires surrounding Arabia. However, the weakn...
The “sport of kings” is one of the oldest sports still in existence today. In fact, versions of the game were played so long ago that a definite origin of the game cannot be determined. Due to the expense of owning and training the best horses, it was primarily nobles who played the game. Because of this, polo was spread as nations conquered others, and it disappeared in areas as noble classes died. Thus, the game was often born and reborn in so many versions that the term polo (translated from several ancient and modern languages) grew to encompass a wide variety of games involving a stick, ball and players on horseback.
There is historical evidence for many words and expressions that are found in both Semitic and Indo-European languages, for example Hebrew "yayn" and Greek "oínos" which mean wine. Semitic loanwords also found in Germanic languages, for example German "Sippe" (“confederation of families”) from Hebrew “mishpacha" which means “family”, which is a result of the Carthaginians colonizing the North Sea region during the 6th and 3rd centuries BC. (Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages). As per say above that, language contact is an interaction of an individual to other languages of the same language you will know what your dominant language
“Old English (c. 500 - c. 1100).” The History of English. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
The Jutes, Anglo and Saxons came from North West Germany, and invaded Britain and chased away the original citizens in England to Cornwall, Wales, and Scotland and somewhere in the north of France which they become the Bretons Celtics. As the Jutes, Anglo and Saxons mixed their old German language, it became old English. It was the start of English history. Anglo called their land Angle land, which sounds a lot like the country England. They called their language Englisc, which sounds almost like the language English. As the Roman came, new words from Latin were added. 28.24 percent of English language came from Latin. As the Normand Conquest happened in 1066, the Anglo-Saxon had to learn French terms. It was invaded by French, Normans and Bretons. Fortunately they were able to keep their old English, and that caused to make English even richer and stronger after the French lef...
1. INTRODUCTION. Hasawi is a variety of Arabic whose roots refer to the family of Central Semitic Languages such as Hebrew and Aramaic. The Hasawi dialect is spoken in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia, exactly in Al-Ahsa (Al-Hasaa) province. Therefore, the dialect of Al-Ahsa, or Hasawi (HD), is also known as the Eastern Arabian dialect. In fact, it is considered the dominant dialect in the area although there are other local dialects found in the same area, such as Badawi which is spoken by some Bedouins tribes. In 2009, the number of Hasawi speakers was estimated as 200,000 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ('Arabic, Gulf Spoken, Ethnologu', 2009).
The Arabs had expanded in the seventh and eight centuries having as their center Damascus. A dynasty called Umayyad had established himself in this same city but due to their corrupt behavior they did not last too long in power. Soon later, in 750, came the Abbasid dynasty with a man called Abu al-Abbas, this dynasty brought many changes to the world of Islam such as distinction between Arab and non-Arab Muslims. Later, in 762, the establishment of the capital city was relocated to Baghdad. The new capital was better located for transportation purposes and also for commerce. The Abbasid dynasty was well reigned throughout the ninth century. Two important characters were Harun el-Rashed (786-809) and his son, al-Ma'mun (813-833) "who founded an astronomical observation and created a foundation for translating classical Greek works."(p.171)