The Arabic Language

arabizantes
, the translations 
of medical writings from Arabic into Latin constituted an indispensable source 
of knowledge. Others devoted themselves to the translation of what in their eyes 
was a false religious message, in order to refute the arguments of the ‘Moham
-
medans’ or, preferably, to convert them to Christianity. The first Latin translation 
of the 
Qurʾān
appeared in 1143 under the supervision of an abbot of the monastery 
of Cluny, Peter the Venerable (d. 1157), with the express aim of denouncing the 
fallacy of the ‘Agarenes’ (or ‘Hagarenes’), as they were often called.
For both purposes, Islamic Spain remained the main gateway to Islam and the 
only place where people could receive the language training that they needed in 
order to understand both the Islamic Holy Book and the precious Greek writings. 
It is, therefore, quite understandable that it was in Spain that the first instru-
ments for the study of Arabic appeared, and it is there that we find the first bilin-
gual glossaries of the language: the 
Glossarium latino–arabicum
(twelfth century) 
and the 
Vocabulista in arabico
(thirteenth century).
The end of the reconquista of Spain by the Catholic kings of Castile and Navarre 
changed all this. After the fall of Granada in 1492, the presence of Muslims in the 
Iberian peninsula was no longer tolerated. In 1502, the choice between emigration 
or conversion was put to them, and a century later, in 1609, the last remaining 
Moriscos were expelled to North Africa. This removed the last direct link with 
Islam in Europe. The same period also witnessed the activities of Pedro de Alcalá, 
who in 1505 published a large dictionary of (Spanish) Arabic (
Vocabulista aravigo 
en letra castellana
) and a manual of Arabic grammar with a conversation guide for 
the confessional (
Arte para ligera mente saber la lengua araviga
) intended for those 
priests who had to deal with newly converted Muslims. This was the first analysis 
of Arabic on the basis of a Greco-Latin model. 
After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, interest in original Greek materials in 
the West grew to the point where scholars began to question the trustworthiness 
of the Latin translations that had been made from Arabic versions of Greek texts. 
As familiarity with the Greek sources increased, the new trend became to go back 
to these sources (
ad fontes
) instead of using the Arabic ones. The resulting alter
-
cation between the old-fashioned 
arabizantes
and the modernist 
neoterici
ended 
in a victory for the new trend. From now on, the writings of Avicenna became a 
symbol of the past, and the attitude of Europe towards Islam changed accordingly. 

---

The Study of Arabic in the West 
3
At first, some scholars refused to give up their Arabic connections. In his 
Defensio medicorum principis Avicennae, ad Germaniae medicos
(
Defence of the Prince of 
the Medical Scholars, Avicenna, to the Doctors of Germany
, Strasbourg 1530), the Dutch 
physician Laurentius Frisius states that the study of Arabic is indispensable for 
those who wish to study medicine. To his opponents, who extolled the virtues 
of the Greek medical scholars, he concedes that the Arabic language is primitive 
compared with the Greek language, but he insists that the quality of the language 
does not matter in the transmission of knowledge. The Arabs, he says, have trans
-
lated all the essential works of Greek scholars on medicine and philosophy, and 
added their own invaluable commentaries. Frisius’ example confirms that at this 
time some scholars in Western Europe still regarded Arabic as an important corol-
lary to the study of medicine. But when the Greek sources became known in the 
West, the Arabic texts were no longer needed, and, what is worse, the comparison 
between the Greek originals and the Arabic translations (most of which had been 
made after Syriac translations and had themselves become known in the West 
through Latin translations) did not work out to the Arabs’ advantage. Henceforth, 
they came to be regarded as defilers of the Greek heritage instead of its guardians. 
It looked as if the study of Arabic science had become completely unnecessary.
With the change of attitude towards Arabic medicine, the study of Arabic 
in Western universities took a new direction. Throughout the period of the 
Crusades, and in spite of their admiration for the knowledge and wisdom of the 
Arab doctors, most Christians regarded Islam as the arch-enemy of Christianity 
and thus of Europe. Now that the scholarly motive for studies of Arabic had 
disappeared, the main impetus for such studies became the missionary fervour 
of the new Europe. Some Christian missionaries, especially those belonging to 
the Dominican order, believed that the only way to convert Muslims to Christi
-
anity was to convince them by rational arguments in their own language. As early 
as 1250, the Dominicans established a language school of Arabic in Toledo, and 
some of them became extremely well read in Arabic theology. Scholars wishing 
to dedicate themselves to a polemic with the enemy felt the need for didactic 
materials on the language so that they could understand the original Arabic texts, 
in the first place, of course, the text of the Islamic revelation, the