What others said about Arabic Read in the original
In his inaugural lecture at the Collège de France:
“So it was with the language. Rising above the dialectal differences, the Qur’an – concerned, because divine, with reaching everyone and with majesty – drew, while transfiguring it through faith, on the old tradition of a koinè already used on the great occasions of declamation, above all poetic declamation. Even reduced to its linguistic implications the fact is of considerable consequence, all the more since its effects always receive, from their very cause, the sanction of the sacred.”
André Miquel
1929–2022
French Arabist, holder of the chair of classical Arabic language and literature at the Collège de France and its administrator.
Original text — French
Ainsi en fut-il pour la langue. Transcendant les variations dialectales, le Coran, soucieux, parce que divin, de communication large et de majesté, puise — mais en la transfigurant par la foi — à la vieille tradition d’une koiné déjà utilisée pour les grandes occasions de la déclamation, poétique surtout. Même réduit à ses implications linguistiques, le fait est d’une portée considérable, et ce d’autant plus que ses effets reçoivent toujours, de leur cause même, la sanction du sacré.
In Arabic
وكذلك كان الأمرُ في اللغة. فقد سما القرآنُ فوق اختلاف اللهجات، وهو- لأنّه إلهيّ- حريصٌ على أن يبلغ الناسَ جميعاً وعلى الجلال، فاستقى- بعد أن بدّلها بالإيمان- من التراث القديم لـ«كوينه»، أي لغةٍ مشتركة، كانت تُستعمل في المناسبات الكبرى للإنشاد، والشعريِّ منه خاصّة. وهذا الأمرُ، ولو قصرناه على آثاره في اللغة، عظيمُ الشأن، ولا سيّما أنّ آثاره تنال دائماً من سببها نفسِه حُرمةَ المقدّس.
Source
Langue et littérature arabes classiques, leçon inaugurale au Collège de France (3 décembre 1976), §6, Paris: Collège de France, 1977, p. §6
The English translation is Voice of Arabic's, made from the original.
The koinè idea in Miquel’s own words, from his inaugural lecture; the version in the conference volume came from an untraced Arabic translation.
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