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Old Hijazi: Difference between revisions
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Old Hijazi is the | Old Hijazi is the Arabic spoken in the Hijaz region, which includes Mecca and Medina, at the time of Muhammed. The characteristics of this language were revealed by (1) early Arabic texts written in Greek and Hebrew letters, (2) the investigation into the Quranic Consonantal Text (QCT) which is the underlying consonantal skeleton (in Arabic, rasm رسم) of the Qur'an. Old Hijazi differs markedly in pronunciation and grammar from the later classical Arabic that is imposed upon the Quran by modern day Muslims and scholars who follow the Muslim tradition of Quranic readings. | ||
== Main characteristics of Old Hijazi == | |||
'''1- Lack of nunation and final short vowels except in construct.''' | |||
E.g. | |||
هذا كتاب جديد (This is a new book) | |||
Classical Arabic pronunciation: hādhā kitābun jadīd | |||
The word kitāb (book) is the subject of the sentence so it took a final ‘u’ short vowel: kitābu. The word is also indefinite so it also took nunation: kitābun. | |||
The word jadīd (new) should also take a final “un” but since that the word is in a pausal position (last word in the sentence) it remains in its original form without any suffix. | |||
In Old Hijazi, the word kitāb remains in its original form: hādhā kitāb jadīd. | |||
The only case where final short vowels are retained in Old Hijazi is in construct, for example: | |||
هذا كتاب محمد (This is Muhammad’s book) | |||
Old Hijazi and Classical Arabic pronunciation: hādhā kitābu Muḥammad. | |||
since that the word kitāb (book) is the subject of the sentence, it takes the ‘u’ final short vowel. The two words “kitābu Muḥammad” are in construct (book of Muhammad). The possessed noun retains the final short vowel in Old Hijazi. | |||
Note: Old Hijazi retains case inflection in the following situations where case is expressed with long vowels: The five nouns, the Dual and Sound masculine plural. (Putten Quranic Arabic, p.282) | |||
'''2- The feminine ending is always “ah” and it only turns to “at” in construct or when a pronoun gets attached to it.''' E.g. : | |||
المدرسة جديدة (the school is new) | |||
Classical Arabic: al-madrasatu jadīdah. | |||
Old Hijazi: al-madrasah jadīdah | |||
Example for construct: | |||
هذه مدرسة الحي (This is the neighborhood’s school) | |||
Classical Arabic and: hādhihī madrasatu l-ḥay | |||
Old Hijazi: hādhih madrasatu l-ḥay | |||
'''3- The indefinite accusative marker is always the ‘ā’ long vowel.''' E.g. : | |||
اشتريت كتابا جديدا (I bought a new a book). | |||
Classical Arabic: ishtaraytu kitāban jadīdā. | |||
Old Hijazi: ishtarayt kitābā jadīdā. | |||
'''4- The third person masculine singular pronoun is always a mere ‘h’ with no vowel attached to it.''' E.g. | |||
كتابه جديد (His book is new). | |||
Classical Arabic: Kitābuhū jadīd. | |||
Old Hijazi: Kitābuh jadīd. | |||
In plural, the ‘h’ pronoun only takes the “hum” form as opposed to classical Arabic which also allows another form: “him”. The same goes for the dual: Old Hijazi only has “humā” while Classical Arabic has “humā” and “himā”. | |||
E.g. | |||
عليهم | |||
Classical Arabic: ʕalayhim | |||
Old Hijazi: ʕalayhum | |||
'''5- Lack of Hamzah (glottal stop) except when it’s a word-final Hamzah preceded by the long vowel ā.''' | |||
Classical Arabic: رأس raʾs | |||
Old Hijazi: راس rās | |||
Classical Arabic: ذئب dhiʾb | |||
Old Hijazi: ذيب dhīb | |||
'''6- The Alef Maqsūrah ى is pronounced as ē.''' E.g. : | |||
هدى | |||
Classical Arabic: hudā | |||
Old Hijazi: hudē | |||
'''8- The ض letter is pronounced in a sound very similar to ظ (ḍh) as apposed to the modern pronunciation ḍ (emphatic d).''' | |||
==Introduction to the I'rāb== | ==Introduction to the I'rāb== | ||