Arabic Beyond the Arabs
"The meaning Jewish, the form Arabic"
«فالمعنى يهوديٌّ والمبنى عربيّ»
One would expect the Jews of al-Andalus to write in Hebrew, but they wrote their learning and thought in Arabic. Abu al-Walid Marwan ibn Janah (d. c. 1050), counted the true founder of Hebrew grammar, wrote his great Kitāb al-Tanqīḥ in Arabic. Moses ibn Ezra of Granada wrote in Arabic a book on the art of Hebrew poetry, comparing it with Arabic verse. Arabic was the tool of thought even for the study of Hebrew itself.
- In brief
- The Jewish scholars of al-Andalus studied their own Hebrew in Arabic
- Outside Arabic
- Kitāb al-Tanqīḥ
«لأنّ الثقافة اليهوديّة في تلك الأيّام مَدِينةٌ للغة العربيّة من حيث المبنى، أو بعبارةٍ أوضح: فالمعنى يهوديٌّ والمبنى عربيّ.»
Pérès calls Ibn Ezra's book «al-Muḥāwarāt wa-l-mudhākarāt»; it is known as Kitāb al-Muḥāḍara wa-l-mudhākara, and the print garbles his name. Both books are in Arabic written in Hebrew letters, what is called Judaeo-Arabic.
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Sources
- هنري بيريس، مجلّة المجمع العلميّ العربيّ ١٩/٩ (١٩٤٤م)، ص٤٠٣–٤٠٤
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