...This chapter introduces the early history of the Arabic language. It discusses the Qur’anic word for “language” and the Qur’an’s self-awareness as an Arabic book. A capsule biography of eighth-century poet Bashshar ibn Burd illustrates the power of the cosmopolitan language to draw ambitious...

...This chapter profiles two men who were contemporaries and who had a similar passion for the lexical history of the Arabic language, although they came from very different backgrounds and produced very different works in their lifetime: Edward William Lane (1801–1876) and Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq...

...This chapter tracks the fates of the cosmopolitan languages through modernity and into the twenty-first century. It discusses Alessandro Paganini, whose press produced the first Arabic-language Qur’an using moveable type. Printed in Venice in 1537, it was replete with typographic errors; all copies...

...This chapter gives a thumbnail history of the Latin and Arabic languages, as introduction and preparation for the argument that follows. It outlines linguistic anthropologists’ work on modern national language ideology in order to differentiate the national languages from cosmopolitan languages...

...This chapter summarizes the biography of Sibawayhi, an eighth-century scholar celebrated as the first grammarian of the Arabic language. Little is known of Sibawayhi’s life. Two biographical anecdotes in which he was mocked for making errors in construing Arabic grammar bracket the period he spent...

... praxis dramatic tradition Arabic Jāḥiẓ al maqāmat satire Azdī Abū al Muṭahhar al Ḥikāyat Abī al Qāsim Tale or Sketch ḥikāya of Abū al Qāsim Tale or Sketch ḥikāya of Abū al Qāsim Ḥikāyat Abī al Qāsim al Azdī Charlemagne Greek legittera Philip of Harveng Aristotle Poetics Arabic language Abu...

... Henry I Henry the Liberal legittera Moses signs Thomas à Kempis Borst Arno ḥasan Khurāfa person Petrarch Francesco shuʿūbiyya movement Sībawayhi Death Cab for Cutie “I Will Possess Your Heart” Death Cab for Cutie Latin language Arabic language cosmopolitan language Secundus Philip...