Arabic – An Eastern Trade Language That Transformed the West

When you hear the word Arabic, or something spoken in that language, you likely think of Middle Eastern deserts or Arab nations. That isn’t wrong – but it isn’t the whole picture. From coffee to cotton, algorithms to algebra, to the concept and name of zero, Arabic has become part of daily modern life all over the world.

Understanding Arabic, a Different Kind of Language

Like Aramaic and Hebrew, Arabic belongs to the Semitic language family, meaning it uses an abjad system of writing – in this case, a connective cursive script written from right to left in which letters primarily represent consonants and short vowels are shown with small markings called diacritics above or below the letters.

One of the foundational concepts of Arabic is the Triliteral Root System, whereby simple visual metaphors are used like building blocks. For example, most Arabic words are created on a core of three consonants that carry a base concept. The consonant sounds formed by the English letters K, T, and B together indicate the word has something to do with writing. Kataba is “he wrote,” Kitab is “book,” and Maktaba is “library,” so the words using this same triliteral base of consonants are all thematically related. Of course, that’s written in the English alphabet so that we can read it. The actual Arabic script would look like كَتَبَ for Kataba, كِتَاب for Kitab, and مَكْتَبَة for Maktaba – very different from English, other Germanic or Romance languages, or even the old runes of centuries ago.

Also, like some other languages, Arabic didn’t just appear all at once. The early roots trace back to the first millennium BC and a dialect of Aramaic, much like Hebrew. Today, Modern Standard Arabic – or Fusha – is used in news, books, and formal speeches across more than 25 countries. Spoken Arabic varies in form by region. Much as the less formal spoken Latin eventually fractured into regionally diverse dialects, so too has Arabic. And who knows, in future years, those dialects may evolve into their own languages as those Latin dialects once did, becoming modern French, Spanish, Italian, and so on.

The Golden Age and a Global Lingua Franca

During Europe’s Middle Ages, scholars in Baghdad translated ancient Greek philosophy, such as the works of Aristotle and Plato, into Arabic. Around the same time, they addressed Indian mathematics in their own language as well. Eventually, Arabic became the language of trade, bridging Europe and the East. European traders, especially the Spanish, discarded the clunky Roman numerals and adopted the Hindu-Arabic numeral system we know today – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. – including what at the time was a new concept: zero (0). Both zero and cipher come from the Arabic sifr, which means empty.

It was the mathematical concept of sifr that allowed us to use the zero as a numeral and a placeholder; without it, advanced mathematics would be almost impossible. Arabic became the universal lingua franca for trade through those middle regions as well as for advancement in astronomy, medicine, and mathematics.

Indeed, many words made their way from Arabic into Latin and those later European languages – including, eventually, English. Zero from صِفْر (pronounced sifr), we know. But also the concept and name for algebra, which came from the Arabic الجَبْر (pronounced al-jabr), meaning “reunion of broken parts.” Coined by Arab mathematician Al-Khwarizmi, the term perfectly describes the nature and purpose of algebra. Algorithm came from Arabic as well, as a Latinized version of Al-Khwarizmi’s name.

The word safari comes from the Arabic سَفَر or safar, meaning “journey.” Admiral comes from amir (commander) and al (the). Coffee was once qahwah (قَهْوَة), and sugar was sukkar (سُكَّر). Even cotton is an Arabic loan word, pronounced “qutn” or “qutun,” meaning “clothing made of linen,” and would be written قُطْن.

So the next time you sit down to do some algebra or consider what videos the YouTube algorithm found for you, or whenever you use the numeral zero or even don a cotton shirt, consider from where those words and concepts came. Arabic is so much more than an ancient desert trade language or something people speak on the other side of the world – it’s also an often-unnoticed part of modern life around the globe today.

1. Arabic is a Semitic language spoken in more than two dozen countries around the world. It’s written from right to left.
2. Arabic was an ancient trade language that bridged the gap between Europe and the East and made its way into Western life and vocabulary.
3. Arabic gave the world the very idea of zero.