Form of the Arabic language used in Umayyad and Abbasid literary texts
Classical Arabic
Quranic Arabic
العربية الفصحى التراثية al-ʻArabīyah al-Fuṣḥā at-Turāthīyah
Verses from the Quran vocalized in a reading tradition considered normative Classical Arabic, written in the cursive Arabic.
Pronunciation
/alʕaraˈbijjalˈfusˤħaː/
Native to
Arabian Peninsula
Region
Arab world
Ethnicity
Arabs
Era
7th to 9th century AD
Continued as a liturgical language of Islam
Spoken with a modernized pronunciation
Language family
Afro-Asiatic
Semitic
West Semitic
Central Semitic
Arabic
Classical Arabic
Early form
Old Arabic
Writing system
Arabic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3
–
Glottolog
None
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Classical Arabic or Quranic Arabic (Arabic: العربية الفصحى التراثية, romanized: al-ʻArabīyah al-Fuṣḥā at-Turāthīyah, lit. 'the most eloquent classic Arabic') is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notably in Umayyad and Abbasid literary texts such as poetry, elevated prose and oratory, and is also the liturgical language of Islam. Classical Arabic is, furthermore, the register of the Arabic language on which Modern Standard Arabic is based.
Several written grammar of Classical Arabic were published with the exegesis of Arabic grammar being at times based on the existing texts and the works of previous texts, in addition to various early sources considered to be of most venerated genesis of Arabic.[1] The primary focus of such works was to facilitate different linguistic aspects.
Modern Standard Arabic is its direct descendant used today throughout the Arab world in writing and in formal speaking, for example prepared speeches, some radio and television broadcasts and non-entertainment content.[2] The lexis and stylistics of Modern Standard Arabic are different from Classical Arabic, and Modern Standard Arabic uses a subset of the syntactic structures available in Classical Arabic, but the morphology and syntax have remained basically unchanged.[3] In the Arab world little distinction is made between Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic and both are normally called al-fuṣḥā (الفصحى) in Arabic, meaning 'the most eloquent'.
^Al-Jallad, Ahmad (2011-05-30). "Polygenesis in the Arabic Dialects". Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics.
ClassicalArabic or Quranic Arabic (Arabic: العربية الفصحى التراثية, romanized: al-ʻArabīyah al-Fuṣḥā at-Turāthīyah, lit. 'the most eloquent classic Arabic')...
varieties of Arabic, including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern Standard Arabic, which is derived from ClassicalArabic. This distinction...
depending on their proximity in the Arabic dialect continuum. Many linguists consider MSA to be distinct from ClassicalArabic (CA; اللغة العربية الفصحى التراثية...
those literate in Arabic. Western scholars make a distinction between ClassicalArabic and Modern Standard Arabic while speakers of Arabic generally do not...
Arabic literature (Arabic: الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: al-Adab al-‘Arabī) is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language...
Old Arabic is the name for any Arabic language or dialect continuum before Islam. Various forms of Old Arabic are attested in scripts like Safaitic, Hismaic...
Semitic languages. ClassicalArabic and Modern Standard Arabic have largely the same grammar; colloquial spoken varieties of Arabic can vary in different...
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Arabic or Andalusian Arabic (Arabic: اللهجة العربية الأندلسية, romanized: al-lahja l-ʿarabiyya l-ʾandalusiyya) was a variety or varieties of Arabic spoken...
directly from Classical and Andalusi Arabic, listed in alphabetical order. This list includes the Spanish meaning of the word as well as the Arabic etymology...
critics of Arabic poetry usually classify it in two categories: classical and modern poetry. Classical poetry was written before the Arabic renaissance...
and other Arabic vernaculars in the Arabic macrolanguage family has also been contested. According to the Arabic tradition, ClassicalArabic was the spoken...
phonemes of ClassicalArabic are represented in the dialect, but there are also many new phonemes. As in other Bedouin dialects, Classical /q/ corresponds...
Arabic music (Arabic: الموسيقى العربية, romanized: al-mūsīqā al-ʿarabīyyah) is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse music styles and genres...
Moroccan Arabic (Arabic: العربية المغربية الدارجة, romanized: al-ʻArabiyyah al-Maghribiyyah ad-Dārija lit. 'Moroccan vernacular Arabic'), also known as...
Hejazi Arabic or Hijazi Arabic (HA) (Arabic: حجازي, romanized: ḥijāzī, Hejazi Arabic pronunciation: [ħɪˈdʒaːzi]), also known as West Arabian Arabic, is a...
other than ClassicalArabic. Varieties such as that of Sanaa, Yemen, are more conservative and retain most phonemic contrasts of ClassicalArabic. Sanaani...
written ClassicalArabic, and casually written Algerian Arabic. One point of interest in Algerian Arabic that sets it apart from other conservative Arabic dialects...
conservative dialect cluster, having many classical features not found across most of the Arabic-speaking world. Yemeni Arabic can be divided roughly into several...
dialects are not descendants of ClassicalArabic, forms of Arabic existing before the formation of ClassicalArabic being the historical foundation for...
Edward Sapir in his 1921 book Language extends the list to include classical Chinese, Arabic, and Sanskrit: When we realize that an educated Japanese can hardly...
as non-pausal grammatical indefinite case endings in Literary Arabic or classicalArabic (triptotes only). In a vocalised text, they may be written even...
The modern dialects spoken in the Arabian Peninsula are closer to ClassicalArabic than elsewhere in the Arab world. Some of the local dialects have retained...
coastal region is characterised by its ج /dʒ/-yodization, changing the ClassicalArabic reflex /dʒ/ to the approximant ي [j]. That resembles some Eastern Arabian...
[tʃælp]. A notable aspect of Gulf Arabic is the different realization of a number of phonemes inherited from ClassicalArabic. These differences are the result...
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