Arabic belongs to the South West Semitic languages, but is sometimes also described as an offshoot of the group of Central Semitic languages. ‘Arabs’ as inhabitants of the Arabian peninsula are already mentioned in Assyrian sources, but we...

. Less than a century after the death of Muhammad in 632, most of Spain had come under Muslim jurisdiction, while inroads had been made into the areas of Narbonne and Carcasonne and even into south-central France, until Charles Martel turned the tide...

Arabic, al-ʿArabiyya, or lisan al-ʿArab, is the language spoken by 200 million people in twenty-one countries from the Arabian Gulf to the Atlantic. As the liturgical language of Muslims, it is the medium for a billion people all over the...

. The nature and depth of the Arabic impact on medieval European civilization are a source of controversy. The rapid conquests of Muslim armies in the 8th and 9th centuries altered the political configurations of southern Europe and the Mediterranean...

Largest Semitic language, spoken in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and in the Middle East (approx. 150 million speakers); the cult language of Islam. A panregional form of Arabic exists which is broadly similar to the language of the Koran...

Ancient Semitic language whose dialects are spoken throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Though Arabic words and proper names are found in Aramaic inscriptions, abundant documentation of the language begins only with the rise of Islam, whose...

Syria: Arab Academy of Damascus (the oldest) Iraq: Iraqi Science Academy Sudan: Academy of the Arabic Language in Khartum Morocco: Academy of the Arabic Language in Rabat (the most active) Jordan: Jordan Academy of Arabic Libya: Academy of the Arabic...