What others said about Arabic Read in the original
“Do not all the Christian young men, handsome in face, fluent of tongue, conspicuous in dress and bearing, distinguished in gentile learning, exalted by Arabic eloquence, most eagerly handle the books of the Chaldeans [i.e. the Arabs], read them most attentively, discuss them most ardently, and, collecting them with great zeal, spread them abroad with praise…? Alas, for shame! The Christians do not know their own language, and the Latins pay no heed to their own tongue, so that in the whole company of Christ scarcely one man in a thousand can be found who can properly write a letter of greeting to a brother.”
Paulus Alvarus of Córdoba
c. 800 – c. 861
Latin Christian writer of Córdoba under the Umayyads.
Original text — Latin
Nonne omnes juvenes Christiani vultu decori, linguæ diserti, habitu gestuque conspicui, gentilicia eruditione præclari, Arabico eloquio sublimati, volumina Chaldæorum avidissime tractant, intentissime legunt, ardentissime disserunt, et ingenti studio congregantes lata constrictaque lingua laudando divulgant […]? Heu, proh dolor! linguam suam nesciunt Christiani, et linguam propriam non advertunt Latini, ita ut omni Christi collegio vix invenitur unus in milleno hominum numero, qui salutatorias fratri possit rationabiliter dirigere litteras.
In Arabic
أليس جميعُ شبّان النصارى — الحِسانُ الوجوهِ، الفِصاحُ الألسنةِ، اللافتون بهيئاتهم وحركاتهم، المبرَّزون في علوم الأمم، الذين سمَتْ بهم البلاغةُ العربيّة — يتداولون كتبَ «الكلدانيّين» [يعني العرب] بأشدّ الشغف، ويقرؤونها بأتمّ الإقبال، ويتناظرون فيها بأحرّ الحماسة، ويجمعونها بجهدٍ عظيم، ويُذيعونها بالثناء في كلامٍ مبسوطٍ وموجَز…؟ وا أسفاه! إنّ النصارى لا يعرفون لغتَهم، واللاتينَ لا يلتفتون إلى لسانهم، حتى إنّه لا يكاد يوجد في جماعة المسيح كلِّها، من كلّ ألف رجل، واحدٌ يُحسِن أن يكتب إلى أخيه رسالةَ تحيّةٍ كتابةً سليمة.
Source
Indiculus luminosus, § 35, in Patrologia Latina, t. 121, Paris: Migne / Garnier, 1880, p. cols. 555–556
The English translation is Voice of Arabic's, made from the original.
Written in 854 as a lament, not as praise: Alvarus deplores that Córdoba's Christian youth preferred Arabic letters to Latin. 'The Chaldeans' are the Arabs.
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