What they said about Arabic From the author's own Arabic
Discussing whether language is revealed or conventional:
“When I consider the state of this noble, generous and subtle language, I find in it such wisdom, precision, refinement and delicacy that it takes hold of my thought, until it almost carries it beyond the farthest reach of magic.”
Ibn Jinni
d. 392 AH / 1002 CE
Abu al-Fath 'Uthman ibn Jinni, master grammarian and morphologist
The Arabic original
وَذَلِكَ أَنَّنِي إِذا تَأَمَّلْتُ حالَ هَذِهِ اللُّغَةِ الشَّرِيفَةِ الكَرِيمَةِ اللَّطِيفَةِ، وَجَدْتُ فِيها مِنَ الحِكْمَةِ وَالدِّقَّةِ وَالإِرْهافِ وَالرِّقَّةِ ما يَمْلِكُ عَلَيَّ جانِبَ الفِكْرِ حَتَّى يَكادُ يَطْمَحُ بِهِ أَمامَ غَلْوَةِ السِّحْرِ
Source
Ibn Jinni, al-Khasa'is, ed. Muhammad 'Ali al-Najjar, Egyptian General Book Organization, 4th ed., vol. 1, p. 48
The English translation is Voice of Arabic's, made from the original.
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