What others said about Arabic Read in the original
At the opening of his book on what culture owes the Arabs of Spain, saying what he means by the word before he begins:
“Let it be clear from the start that in using the word «Arab» I refer to no ethnic group and no religion, but to the language used by Arabs, Persians, Turks, Jews and Spaniards in the Middle Ages, which served as the vehicle for carrying the most varied learning of antiquity, classical or Eastern, to the world of Islam.”
Juan Vernet
1923–2011
Spanish Arabist, holder of the chair of Arabic at Barcelona, translator of the Qur'an and the Thousand and One Nights.
Original text — Spanish
Y conste de entrada que al emplear la palabra árabe no me refiero a ninguna etnia ni religión sino a la lengua utilizada por árabes, persas, turcos, judíos y españoles durante la Edad Media y que sirvió de vehículo para la transmisión de los más diversos saberes de la antigüedad – clásica u oriental – al mundo del Islam.
In Arabic
وليكن معلوماً من البدء أنّي حين أستعمل كلمة «عربيّ» لا أعني بها أصلاً قوميّاً ولا ديناً، بل اللغةَ التي استعملها العربُ والفرسُ والتركُ واليهودُ والإسبانُ في العصور الوسطى، والتي كانت وسيلةً لنقل أشدّ معارف القدماء تنوّعاً، الكلاسيكيّة منها والشرقيّة، إلى عالم الإسلام.
Source
La cultura hispanoárabe en Oriente y Occidente (later: Lo que Europa debe al Islam de España), prologue, Barcelona: Ariel, 1978
The English translation is Voice of Arabic's, made from the original.
He wrote in Spanish; the Arabic and English are ours. Spanish árabe means both Arab and Arabic, which the printed Arabic («the word Arabs») narrows.
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