United Kingdom

Arthur John Arberry Notable figure

1905–1969

Literature and poetry

Cambridge professor of Arabic; Modern Arabic Poetry (1950)

Worked in Egypt

Arthur Stanley Tritton Notable figure

1881–1973

Teaching Arabic

SOAS professor of Arabic; Teach Yourself Arabic (1943)

Worked in Lebanon and India

Alan Jones Notable figure

1933–2021

Literature and poetry

Arabic professor; Early Arabic Poetry (1992–1996)

Lady Anne Blunt Notable figure

1837–1917

Literature and poetry

Translator of The Seven Golden Odes (1903)

Abraham Wheelocke Notable figure

1593–1653

Teaching Arabic

First holder of the Arabic chair at Cambridge

Adelard of Bath Notable figure

fl. c. 1116–1142

Translation

Put al-Khwarizmi's tables and Euclid's Elements into Latin

Alfred of Sareshel (Alfredus Anglicus) Notable figure

c. 1215

Translation

Latin On Plants and Avicenna on minerals, from the Arabic

Alfred Guillaume Notable figure

1888–1965

Semitic philology

Professor of Arabic; translated Ibn Ishaq's Sira (1955)

Worked in Lebanon and the United States

Alfred Felix Landon Beeston Notable figure

1911–1995

Grammar

Professor of Arabic; The Arabic Language Today (1970)

Alphonse Mingana Notable figure

1878–1937

Manuscript cataloguing

Cataloguer of the John Rylands Arabic manuscripts (1934)

Alexander George Ellis Notable figure

1858–1942

Cataloguing Arabic books

Catalogue of Arabic Books in the British Museum (1894–1901)

Alexander Strathern Fulton Notable figure

1888–1976

Text editing

Facsimile of al-Qali's al-Bariʿ with a word index (1933)

Alexander Nicoll Notable figure

1793–1828

Manuscript cataloguing

Catalogued the Bodleian's Arabic manuscripts (1821)

Anthony Ashley Bevan Notable figure

1859–1933

Poetry and text editing

Editor of the Naqaʾid of Jarir and al-Farazdaq

Edmund Castell Notable figure

1606–1685

Lexicography

Lexicographer; author of the Lexicon Heptaglotton (1669)

Edward Pococke Notable figure

1604–1691

Text editing

First Laudian professor of Arabic, Oxford; Lamiyyat al-ʿAjam

Worked in Syria

Edward Pococke the Younger Notable figure

1648–1727

Text editing

Editor and Latin translator of Hayy ibn Yaqzan (1671)

Edward Granville Browne Notable figure

1862–1926

Chair of Arabic

Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic, Cambridge, 1902–26

Edward Henry Palmer Notable figure

1840–1882

Literature and poetry

Cambridge professor of Arabic; translator of Baha Zuhayr

Edward William Lane Notable figure

1801–1876

Lexicography

Lexicographer; author of the Arabic-English Lexicon

Bertram Thomas Notable figure

1892–1950

Teaching Arabic

First director of the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies

Bruce Ingham Notable figure

b. 1942

Dialectology

Dialectologist; Najdi Arabic: Central Arabian (1994)

Charles Ambrose Storey Notable figure

1888–1967

Text editing

Professor of Arabic, Cambridge; edited al-Fakhir (1915)

Worked in India

Thomas Chenery Notable figure

1826–1884

Literature and poetry

Translator of al-Hariri's Maqamat into English (1867)

Thomas Greaves Notable figure

1612–1676

Teaching Arabic

Pococke's deputy in Arabic at Oxford; oration on it (1637)

Thomas Muir Johnstone Notable figure

1924–1983

Dialectology

Dialectologist; Eastern Arabian Dialect Studies (1967)

Thomas Hyde Notable figure

1636–1703

Teaching Arabic

Succeeded Pococke in Oxford's Arabic chair (1691)

Thomas Hunt Notable figure

1696–1774

Teaching Arabic

Laudian Professor of Arabic at Oxford (1738–1774)

George Percy Badger Notable figure

1815–1888

Lexicography

Lexicographer; author of An English-Arabic Lexicon (1881)

George Sale Notable figure

1697–1736

Translation

Translator of the Qurʾan into English (1734)

Joseph Dacre Carlyle Notable figure

1759–1804

Literature and poetry

Author of Specimens of Arabian Poetry (1796)

Joseph White Notable figure

1745–1814

Teaching Arabic

Laudian Professor of Arabic at Oxford (1775–1814)

John Alfred Haywood Notable figure

1913–1978

Lexicography

Historian of Arabic lexicography (1960)

Worked in Sudan

John Owen Hunwick Notable figure

1936–2015

Manuscript cataloguing

Arabic Literature of Africa; West African Arabic manuscripts

Worked in Nigeria and the United States

John Penrice Notable figure

1818–1892

Lexicography

Lexicographer; Dictionary and Glossary of the Kor-ân (1873)

John Baillie Notable figure

1772–1833

Grammar

Arabic chair, Fort William; The Five Books of grammar (1802)

Worked in India

John Tytler Notable figure

1787–1837

Medical terminology

Surgeon; translated anatomy books into Arabic

Worked in India

John James Stewart Perowne Notable figure

1823–1904

Grammar

Translator of the Ajurrumiyya into English (1852)

John Selden Willmore Notable figure

1856–1931

Dialects

The Spoken Arabic of Egypt (London 1901)

James Edward Budgett Meakin Notable figure

1866–1906

Dialects

An Introduction to the Arabic of Morocco (1891)

Worked in Morocco

James E. Montgomery Notable figure

b. 1962

Literature and poetry

Early poetry and al-Jahiz; The Vagaries of the Qasidah

James Robson Notable figure

1890–1981

Text editing

Professor of Arabic, Manchester; Arabic texts on music

James Heyworth-Dunne Notable figure

1902–1974

Text editing

Editor of al-Suli's Kitab al-Awraq (1934–1936)

Duncan Forbes Notable figure

1798–1868

Teaching Arabic

Teacher; author of A Grammar of the Arabic Language (1863)

Duncan Black Macdonald Notable figure

1863–1943

Literature and poetry

Ibn Khaldun selection, glossary (1905); the Arabian Nights

Worked in the United States

Desmond Stewart Notable figure

1924–1981

Literature and poetry

Translator of al-Sharqawi's al-Ard into English (1962)

Worked in Iraq, Lebanon and Egypt

David Samuel Margoliouth Notable figure

1858–1940

Literature and text editing

Editor of Yaqut's Muʿjam al-udabaʾ (1907–1927)

Denys Johnson-Davies Notable figure

1922–2017

Translation

Translator; Modern Arabic Short Stories (1967)

Worked in Egypt

Robert of Ketton Notable figure

12th century

Qur'an translation

Made the first Latin version of the Qur'an (1143)

Worked in Spain

Robert Bertram Serjeant Notable figure

1915–1993

Literature and poetry

Professor of Arabic; Prose and Poetry from Hadramawt (1951)

Robert Sterling Notable figure

d. 1917

Grammar and morphology

Grammarian; A Grammar of the Arabic Language (London, 1904)

Roger Allen Notable figure

b. 1942

Literature and poetry

Historian of the Arabic novel; The Arabic Novel (1982)

Worked in the United States

Richard Bell Notable figure

1876–1952

Translation

Arabic lecturer at Edinburgh; translator of the Qur'an

Richard Francis Burton Notable figure

1821–1890

Literary translation

Translator of the Thousand Nights and a Night (1885–1888)

Reynold A. Nicholson Notable figure

1868–1945

Literature

Author of A Literary History of the Arabs (1907)

Simon Anthony Hopkins Notable figure

b. 1950

History of Arabic

Grammarian; Grammar of Early Arabic from Papyri (1984)

Worked in Palestine

Sigmar Hillelson Notable figure

c. 1883–1960

Phonetics and dialects

Sudan Arabic Vocabulary (1925) and Sudan Arabic Texts (1935)

Worked in Sudan

Simon Ockley Notable figure

1678–1720

Teaching Arabic

Cambridge professor of Arabic; translated Hayy ibn Yaqzan

Charles James Lyall Notable figure

1845–1920

Poetry and text editing

Editor of the Mufaddaliyat (Oxford 1918–1924)

Worked in India

Samuel Clarke Notable figure

1624–1669

Prosody

Author of a Latin treatise on Arabic prosody (1661)

Godfrey Rolles Driver Notable figure

1892–1975

Phonetics and dialects

Semitist; grammar of colloquial Syrian Arabic (1925)

Francis Gladwin Notable figure

d. 1812

Lexicography

Published an Arabic–Persian glossary of drug terms (1793)

Worked in India

Frederic du Pre Thornton Notable figure

1841–1903

Teaching Arabic

Author of Elementary Arabic: A Grammar (Cambridge 1905)

Clive Holes Notable figure

b. 1948

Dialectology

Dialectologist; Modern Arabic (1995)

Leonard Chappelow Notable figure

1683–1768

Grammar

Cambridge Arabic professor; Elementa linguae Arabicae (1730)

Matthew Lumsden Notable figure

1777–1835

Grammar and dictionary editing

Grammarian; author of A Grammar of the Arabic Language

Worked in India

Martin Hinds Notable figure

1941–1988

Lexicography

Lexicographer; Dictionary of Egyptian Arabic (1986)

Worked in Egypt

Marsden Jones Notable figure

1920–1992

Text editing

Editor of al-Waqidi; bibliographer of Egyptian writers

Worked in Egypt and the United States

Margaret Dunlop Gibson Notable figure

1843–1920

Manuscript cataloguing

Cataloguer of the Arabic manuscripts of Mount Sinai (1894)

Marmaduke William Pickthall Notable figure

1875–1936

Translation

Translator; The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930)

Worked in India

Malcolm Cameron Lyons Notable figure

1929–2019

Literature and poetry

Cambridge professor of Arabic; The Arabian Epic (1995)

Michael George Carter Notable figure

b. 1939

Arabic grammatical tradition

Grammarian; Sibawayhi (2004), Sibawayhi's Principles (2016)

Worked in Australia, the United States and Norway

Michael Scot Notable figure

d. c. 1235

Translation

Latin translator of al-Bitruji and the books on animals

Worked in Spain and Italy

Mortimer Sloper Howell Notable figure

1841–1925

Grammar

A Grammar of the Classical Arabic Language (1880–1911)

Worked in India

Sir Hamilton A. R. Gibb Notable figure

1895–1971

Literature and poetry

Professor of Arabic, Oxford; Arabic Literature (1926)

Worked in the United States

Henry George Farmer Notable figure

1882–1965

Music and its texts

Historian of Arabic music; editor of its Arabic texts

William Bedwell Notable figure

1561–1632

Lexicography

Lexicographer; compiled a seven-volume Arabic lexicon

William J. Prendergast Notable figure

Literature and poetry

Translator of al-Hamadhani's Maqamat (1915)

Worked in India

Sir William Jones Notable figure

1746–1794

Literature and poetry

Translator of the Seven Muʿallaqat into English (1782)

Worked in India

William Wright Notable figure

1830–1889

Grammar and text editing

Grammarian; author of A Grammar of the Arabic Language

William Robertson Smith Notable figure

1846–1894

Philology and Semitics

Cambridge professor of Arabic; reviser of Wright's grammar

William Cureton Notable figure

1808–1864

Manuscript cataloguing

Began the British Museum's Arabic manuscript catalogue

Sir William Hay Macnaghten Notable figure

1793–1841

Text editing

Editor of the Arabic Nights, Calcutta II (1839–42)

Worked in India

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt Notable figure

1840–1922

Literary translation

Versified The Seven Golden Odes with Lady Anne Blunt (1903)

Worked in Egypt

William Montgomery Watt Notable figure

1909–2006

Translation

Edinburgh chair of Arabic; translated part of al-Tabari