A handbook of modern Arabic: consisting of a practical grammar, with numerous examples, diagloues, and newspaper extracts; in a European type

Francis William Newman

Sujets

• Arabic language
• Grammar

Informations

• Publié par: les_archives_du_savoir
• Nombre de lectures: 13
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

Extrait

other tJie same Author are:Among Writings ly
i.
TEXT OF THE IGUVINE INSCRIPTIONS,
Latin Translation and Notes.THE with Interlinear 8vo. 2*.sewed, price
II.
ILIAD OF HOMER. translatedFaithfully
THE into Metre. Crown 8vo. 6*. 6d.Unrhymed English cloth, price
III.
mHE ODES OF HORACE. Translated into
Special
with Introductions and_4_ Historical umlUnrhymed Metres, Notes,
5s.Crown 8vo.Explanatory. cloth, price
IV.
TRANSLATION: A to Pro-Reply
HOMERICfessor Arnold. Crown 8vo. 2*. 6rf.cloth, priceA
HANDBOOK
ARABIC:MODERN
CONSISTING OF A
PRACTICAL GRAMMAR,
WITH
NUMEROUS EXAMPLES, DIALOGUES,
AND
NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS
;
IN A EUROPEAN TYPE.
BY
FRANCIS Wi NEWMAN,
EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF UNIVERSITY LONDON FORMERLY FELLOW OFCOLLKOE,
;
BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD.
LONDON:
TRUBNER AND PATERNOSTER ROW.CO., 60,
1866.
All\ rights reserved.^HERTFORD
FEINTED BY STEPHENPREFACE.
ARABIC is talked in in inMalta,differently Algiers,
in in and the Arabs ofEgypt, Syria, Bagdad, among
1
des*rt. Nowhere is the Arabic of the Koran andethe
of The difference of the old and newpoetry spoken.
in that Greekis similar to between themany respects
of Homer and the Greek dialects at the time of
No modern can without andXenophon. pedantry
dialect.in the older "When he com-absurdity speak
he write as if he canHariri, ;poetry, mayposes just
Athenian or if he chose toas an Alexandrian, adopt
use the dialect of Homer.hexameters,dactylic might
< !When tho Arabnow writes he Yo chasmpross,
1which his dialectfrom t ,
separates by omitting
'
:
. usocl to . casestho which, of
d While learned
T
; to forbid tli \ andArabic,
will have it that the has not iflanguago changed (as
were not a of nature and a conditionchange necessity
See P.S.VI PREFACE.
of finalconfess that thesegrowth), they yet distinctly
vowels are not and not be sounded. But theirmay
omission so mutilates the old as in itself togrammar,
constitute a new dialect. Moreover the words in use
have those in mostlargely changed, especially frequent
recurrence. A mass of have becomehuge meanings
obsolete. The dictionaries
mischievouslyheap together,
without the senses which differenttodistinction, belong
"
or and call that Arabic." Even con-ages places,
the Thousand and One which is morecerning Nights,
recent than the esteemed the learned Mr.classical,age
"Lane confesses that it is out ofoften impossible,
or more which are borne onetwenty significations by
Arabic to be sure which was intended theword/' by
author. He declares that the of that book is
style
is itneither nor that of familiarclassical, conversation,
but is almost as different from the one as from the other.
I that I need no further defence for thathope insisting
Modern Arabic is not to theto learn the learn Ancient,
and to learn the Ancient is not to learn the Modern.
the local dialects differ theAlthough considerably,
is as in cases ofdifference othersuperficial, provin-
cialism. When Arabs write a letter,veryunpretending
aside a of their local Mer-part peculiarity.they lay
cantile letters from to or orBussora,Syria Bagdad,
are a of "Modern"Tunis, Arabic,rough representation
as distinct on the one hand from the localpurely
on the other from the classicaldialects, language.