What others said about Arabic Read in the original
In his dissertation on the languages and literature of the East:
“Though rude perhaps in its origin, and gradual in its progress to improvement, the richness of the Arabic has been long proverbial; and many circumstances have concurred to render it not only the most copious of any known tongue; but to preserve it uncorrupted amidst all the political and literary revolutions of surrounding states.”
John Richardson
1740/41–1795
English orientalist, compiler of a Persian, Arabic and English dictionary, prefaced by a dissertation on Eastern languages and literature.
In Arabic
ومع أنّها ربّما كانت خشنةً في نشأتها، متدرّجةً في ترقّيها، فقد ضُرب المثلُ بغنى العربيّة منذ زمنٍ بعيد؛ وتضافرت أسبابٌ كثيرةٌ على أن تجعلها أغزرَ لسانٍ معروف، وأن تحفظها سليمةً من الفساد وسط كلّ ما مرّ بالدول المحيطة بها من انقلاباتٍ سياسيّةٍ وأدبيّة.
Source
A Dissertation on the Languages, Literature, and Manners of Eastern Nations, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1778, p. 4–5
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