[166]Robert de Retz’s translation.

CHAPTER X.

Languages of Africa — Various Dialects of the Arabic Language — Difference between the Berebber and Shelluh Languages — Specimen of the Mandinga — Comparison of the Shelluh Language with that of the Canary Islands, and Similitude of Customs.

Yareb, the son of Kohtan,[167] is said to have been the first who spoke Arabic, and the Mohammedans contend that it is the most eloquent language spoken in any part of the globe, and that it is the one which will be used at the day of judgment. To write a long dissertation on this copious and energetic language, would be only to repeat what many learned men have said before; a few observations, however, may not be superfluous to the generality of readers. The Arabic language is spoken by a greater proportion of the inhabitants of the known world than any other: a person having a practical knowledge of it, may travel from the shores of the Mediterranean sea to the Cape of Good Hope, and notwithstanding that in such a journey he must pass through many kingdoms and empires of blacks, speaking distinct languages, yet he would find men in all those countries versed in Mohammedan learning, and therefore acquainted with the Arabic; again, he might cross the widest part of the African continent from west to east, and would every where meet with persons acquainted with it, more particularly if he should follow the course of the great river called the Nile of the Negroes, on the banks of which, from Jinnie and Timbuctoo, to the confines of Lower Egypt, are innumerable cities and towns of Arabs and Moors, all speaking the Arabic. Again, were a traveller to proceed from Marocco to the farthest shore of Asia, opposite the islands of Japan, he would find the Arabic generally spoken or understood wherever he came. In Turkey, in Syria, in Arabia, in Persia, and in India, it is understood by all men of education; and any one possessing a knowledge of the Korannick Arabic, might, in a very short time, make himself master of the Hindostannee, and of every other dialect of the former.

The letters of this language are formed in four distinct ways, according to their situation at the beginning, middle, or end of words, as well as when standing alone; the greatest difficulty, however, to be overcome, is the acquiring a just pronunciation, (without which no living language can be essentially useful), and to attain which, the learner should be able to express the difference of power and sound between what may be denominated the synonymous letters, such as ط and ث with ت; ع with ا; ص with س; ض and ظ with د; ه with ح; ڧ and ك with خ; غ with ر.

Besides these, there are other letters, whose power is extremely difficult to be acquired by an European, because no language in Europe possesses sounds similar to the Arabic letters ع غ خ, nor has any language, except, perhaps, the English, a letter with the power of the Arabian ث. Those who travel into Asia or Africa scarcely ever become sufficiently masters of the Arabic to speak it fluently, which radical defect proceeds altogether from their not learning, while studying it, the peculiar distinction of the synonymous letters. No European, perhaps, ever knew more of the theory of this language than the late Sir William Jones, but still he could not converse with an Arabian, a circumstance of which he was not conscious until he went to India. This great man, however, had he been told that his knowledge of this popular eastern language was so far deficient, that he was ignorant of the separate powers of its synonymous letters, and consequently inadequate to converse intelligibly with a native Arab, he would certainly have considered it an aspersion, and have disputed altogether that such was the fact. Considering how much we are indebted to the Arabians for the preservation of many of the works of the ancients, which would otherwise have never, perhaps, been known to us, it is really surprising that their language should be so little known in Europe. It is certainly very difficult and abstruse (to learners particularly), but this difficulty is rendered insurmountable by the European professors knowing it only as a dead language, and teaching it without due attention to the pronunciation of the before mentioned synonymous letters, a defect which is not likely to be remedied, and which will always subject the speaker to incessant errors.

To shew the Arabic student the difference between the Oriental and Occidental order of the letters of the alphabet, I shall here give them opposite each other.

Oriental Order of the Alphabet.Occidental Order of the Alphabet.
1Alifا—1Alifا
2baب—2baب
3taت—3taت
4thsaث—4thaث
5jimج—5jimج
6hhaح—6hhaح
7khaخ—7khaخ
8dalد—8dalد
9dsalذ—9dth’alذ
10raر—10raر
11zaز—11zainز
12sinس—12taط
13shinش—13daظ
14sadص—14kefك
15dadض—15lamل
16taط—16mimم
17daظ—17nuneن
18ainع—18sadص
19gainغ—19dadض
20faف—20ainع
21kafق—21r’gainغ
22kefك—22faف
23lemل—23kafق
24mimم—24sinس
25nunن—25shinش
26wawو—26hhaه
27heه—27wowو
28yaي—28iaي
29lam-alifلا—29lam-alifلا

Besides this difference of the arrangement of the two alphabets, the student will observe that there is also a difference in the punctuation of two of the letters: thus—