The Arabic Language

Further reading
A bibliography of publications on Middle Arabic is in Lentin (2009, 2012). The 
best general introduction to Middle Arabic is still Blau (1965); see also Lebedev 
(1977). In numerous articles, Blau has defined the character of Middle Arabic (e.g., 
1972–3, 1981); especially worth reading is his terminological discussion of the 
term ‘Middle Arabic’ (1982), in which he admits that his earlier use of the term 
erroneously assumed that Middle Arabic is a speech variety rather than a socio
-
linguistic label to indicate a category of texts. The important subject of hyper- 
and hypocorrections is dealt with by Blau (1965: 27–34, 1970). A reprint of Blau’s 
most important articles on the subject of Middle Arabic was published in Blau 
(1988).
For Muslim Middle Arabic the papyri are an important source; an introduction 
to the study of the papyri is in Grohmann (1966). For the languages in the Nessana 
archive, see Stroumsa (2008: 185–213). The language of the papyri is analysed by 
Diem (1984) and Hopkins (1984); on the sociolinguistic context of the Egyptian 
papyri, see Sijpesteijn (2013). A checklist of the Aphrodito papyri was compiled by 
Sijpesteijn, available at: http://www.ori.uzh.ch/isap/isapchecklist.html.
Older studies on texts in Muslim Middle Arabic include Schen (the memoirs of 
ʾUsāma ibn Munqiḏ, 1972–3) and Müller (1884; the language of Ibn ʾAbī ʾUṣaybiʿa’s 
biographical lexicon of medical scholars). Of primary importance is the critical 
edition of the Arabian Nights by Mahdī (1984): most of the preceding editions 
consisted in an adaptation of the text to Classical norms and did not give an insight 
in the real language of the texts. On folktales, see Lebedev (1993); on the colloqui
-
alisms in the work of Ṣafī d-Dīn al-Ḥillī, see Levin (1975); on those in the work of 
ʿAlī ibn Sūdūn, see Vrolijk (1998: 137–59); on colloquial poetry in al-ʾAndalus, see 
Corriente (1980) and Zwartjes (1997). For Middle Arabic in Syrian texts from the 
Ottoman period, see Lentin (1997). For the dictionary of Egyptian Arabic by Yūsuf 
al-Maġribī (d. 1019/1611), see Chapter 10, p. 174.
The best manual for Judaeo-Arabic is Blau (1965); it contains a large appendix 
about the Hebrew element in Judaeo-Arabic, as well as an appendix on the charac-
teristics of Muslim Middle Arabic. An anthology of texts in Judaeo-Arabic was 
published by Blau in 1980. On the early orthography of Judaeo-Arabic, see Blau 
and Hopkins (1984). On Saadya Gaon’s translation of the Pentateuch, see Dikken 
(2012). Gallego (2006) analyses the Judaeo-Arabic elements in the work of Yonah 
ibn Janāḥ (eleventh century), a Hebrew grammarian from al-ʾAndalus.
For Christian Arabic, Blau (1966–7) is fundamental; an older publication on 
the language of Arabic texts written by Christians is Graf (1905); on the litera
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ture of the Arab Christians, see Graf (1944–66). The Arabic psalm translation in 
Greek letters was edited by Violet (1902); see also the remarks in the section on 
phonology in Hopkins (1984: 1–61). The text in Coptic letters was edited partially 
by Casanova (1902) and fully by Sobhy (1926); for an analysis, see Blau (1979). An 

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Middle Arabic 
171
edition of the 
vita
of ʾAbū Mīnā (Menas) and analysis of its language is in Jaritz 
(1993). The Arabic of the Bible translations is studied by Bengtsson (1995) on the 
basis of the translation of the Book of Ruth. A series of studies by Grand’Henry 
(1984, 2012) analyses the Middle Arabic elements in the tenth-century Arabic 
version of the sermons of Gregory of Nazianzus (d. 390). On the language of Copto-
Arabic historiography see den Heijer (1989, 2009).
Mejdell (2012b) discusses the appropriateness of comparisons between Middle 
Arabic from the classical period and contemporary mixed styles in written Arabic. 
On the older stages of the controversy about the use of dialect in literature, see 
Diem (1974: 96–125); for a more recent summary, see Davies (2006). Woidich and 
Landau (1993) produced ʾAḥmad il-Fāṛ’s farces in Egyptian dialect from the begin-
ning of the twentieth century, with extensive notes on their language. Analysis 
of a work in contemporary colloquial Egyptian (Saʿd ad-Dīn Wahba’s theatre 
play 
Il-wazīr šāl it-tallāga
) is in Malina (1987). A list of dialect words in Egyptian 
literature was compiled by Vial (1983). Written Egyptian Arabic in public life is 
discussed by Borg (2007). Examples of playful use of mixed styles in so-called 
fuṣḥāmmiyya
is presented by Rosenbaum (2000).
On Saʿīd ʿAql and his proposal for a new alphabet to write Lebanese Arabic, 
see Plonka (2004). For the most recent developments in written Moroccan, see 
Hoogland (2013). For the use of transcription in the social media, see Palfreyman 
and al Khalil (2003).

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