Arabic influence on modern Spain and lexical influence of Arabic language on Spanish language

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ARABIC INFLUENCE ON MODERN SPAIN AND LEXICAL INFLUENCE OF ARABIC LANGUAGE ON SPANISH LANGUAGE

Aynur Guliyeva,

Key words: Spanish, Arabic Influence, Arabic language, Romance tongue, Castilian language

Айнур ГУЛІЄВА,

influence islamic arabic culture spanish language

Introduction. It is common knowledge that the Islamic culture of Spain is often called an Arabian culture. It is related not only with the place the Arab nobility occupied in Spain, but also with importance of this language, because Arabic language is language of the Koran. It does not necessarily mean that Arabic was only used for religious worship. In the town markets, state administration, and science Arabic language was widely used. Along with use of Arabic language, Romance tongue, which had been preserved by native, indigenous population, was largely used by townspeople and in the streets. Therefore, we are talking about several ways of using these two languages. For example, there was a form of Arabic that was only used in the prayers of Spanish Muslims; highest judges, who added to their Arabic speech some coarse witticisms in Romance in fact, used a slightly different form. Moreover, Arabic, congenial to language of the Maghreb (it contained Romance expressions and forms even though they were few), was popular because of its simplicity.

Classical Arabic was, however, by no means merely a language of scholars in the way that Medieval Latin was, apart from its liturgical use. It was thoroughly alive, even if its application did exercise the constant, tireless efforts of the completely cultured class of Al-Andalus. The Spanish Muslims, whatever their race was, were most concerned not to sever their associations with Arabic culture, as they were well aware that they lived on a perpetually endangered bridgehead in a far outpost of the Islamic world. This awareness conditioned their attitude to many things. They were, in general, conservative in outlook and opposed to all innovation that threatened to question the Islamic-Arabic inheritance (Burck- hardt, 1999: 81).

Spanish is the most widely spoken language in the romance group. Until the end of the XV century, the name “Castilian language” prevailed, but as the Spanish national language was formed, the term “Spanish” prevailed. Modern Spanish is a Castilian dialect and there is currently a continuing scientific debate as to which term, castellano or espanol is more correct (Mar-Molinero, 1997). Spanish language was influenced significantly from 711 till 1 492. As it is known, these are dates when Muslims ruled the Iberian Peninsula. With the Christian Reconquista and the emerging of Kingdom of Castile that occupied large territories from Moorish rulers in 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, the lexical influence of Arabic reached its greatest level. What was the peculiarity of these territories? First, these territories included former Taifa of Toledo and there lived large numbers both of Arabic and local Romance (for example Mozarabic language) dialects speakers. Therefore both languages, Arabic and local Romance dialects heavily influenced Castilian. There is also another theory that Mozarab Christians who emigrated priorly from Al Andalus, brought into Castilian Arabic words and their derivatives. Spanish had received formative influence of Arabic language.

Discussion. Academicians often have had academic debates on whether or not Arabic language influenced whole Iberian Peninsula in the same amount. Most of them agree that the amount of influence varied from one area to another. However, it is generally accepted that local elites, Muslims and Christians, preferred using Arabic, and Mozarabic that was complex of Arabic influenced local Romance dialects. As the Reconquista advanced, which happened in the time of the Nasrid dynasty in the southern Emirate of Granada, Emirate of Granada became totally Arabized because of a large influx of Arabic speakers.

Under the Moorish rule, population spoke various Arabized Romance dialects that today scholars call as Mozarabic and thence much of the Arabic influence upon Spanish came. As a result, now Spanish has both Arabic and Latin derived words with same meaning. For example, aceituna and oliva (olive), alacran and escorpion (scorpion), jaqueca and migrana (migraine), alcancia and hucha (piggy bank).The influence of the Arabized Mozarabic and of Arabic itself is more noticeable in the Spanish dialects from regions with a longer history of Moorish domination than those where it was shorter-lived. A number of words were also borrowed from Moroccan Arabic principally as a result of Spain's protectorate over Spanish Morocco in the 19th and 20th centuries, although these are of minor significance.

The Moors practiced the Islamic religion and spoke Arabic. They did not suppress the language of the Spanish Catholics. Ten percent of the Spanish language is Arabic, because of the Moors who invaded Spain in 711. They left behind at least 4000 Arabic words in the Spanish language (Arabismos). Many of the Arabic words found in Spanish begin with an oral, the definite article in Arabic. For example: algebra, arroz, albondiga, atlas, algodon, etc. (Erwin, 2002).

There is no doubt that the greatest linguistic influence of Arabic is lexical. Some 8% of Spanish vocabulary is of Arabic origin. This includes some hundreds or thousands of modern locations and geographic features that still hold the place-names they received from the Moors. Between Tarifa and Gibraltar is Algeciras, from the Arabic for “the (green) island” - al jazeera (al khadra) (Rorabaugh, Bartolomew, 2010).

Construction terms are also borrowed, since the Arab architecture of the Maghreb and Spain experienced a high flourishing in the 10-15 centuries. In the big cities (Rabat, Marrakech, Fes, etc.) were built in the Kasbah, a citadel fortified with strong walls with towers and gates, and Medina, the commercial and artisan quarters. During this period, the verbs achacar, atamar, and fagar appeared in Spanish; the adverbs balde, marras; and the adjectives rafez (rahez). a(l) jumado; the pronoun fulano, etc. A whole series of terms related to medieval Arabic culture (astronomy, mathematics, medicine, philosophy, etc.) was included in the General Fund of European and world science and culture: algebra, which was introduced in 1 202 by the Italian mathematician L. Fibonaggi, algorithmo, cifra, sego, azimut, nadir, almanac, elixir, alcohol, and many others.

A building such as the Great Mosque of Cordoba is characteristic of Moorish culture in its full flowering, at the time when the Spanish-Islamic Empire was united under the rule of the Ummayyads. In some places, the layout of the streets is reminiscent of the market area as it was in the time of Moorish rule, though today there would never be room for the eighty thousand shops and workshops that it once held. The fabulous royal city Medinat-az~Zahra, to the west of Cordoba, is a heap of rubble, where excavations are at present in progress. Of the many hundred mosques that once graced Cordoba, only the Great Mosque still stands. It is the oldest and largest, but it was altered so radically when it was transformed into a church that it is hard to imagine it in its former glory (Burckhardt, 1999).

Along with the locations that were established or renamed by the Moors during their conquest, Spanish is filled with military words that reflect the means by which they took control, as well as the administrative and infrastructural words that reflect their continued control.

In the first half of the 13th century, when the Castilian language is widely and regularly used in its written form, literary Spanish prose appears. It is born mainly on the basis of the translation work of Alfonso X, in which Toledo becomes a center of scientific Arabic studies. Arabic prose coexisted with Castilian and the Spanish language was the mediator between Arabic and Latin. It should be emphasized that against the background of the functioning of both languages, there was a development of variants of means of expression, oral, still unsettled, but in one way or another contributed to the formation of the language.

Many of changes related to the history of Spanish lexicon can be understood as having occurred in a situation of dialect contact. In the year 711 CE, the Moors initiated a campaign that ultimately resulted in the conquest of almost the entire Iberian Peninsula. On the linguistic side, the result of this was a prolonged period of the Spanish language, between the local varieties of Hispano-Romance and Hispano-Arabic. Corriente (1977) describes the results of this contact as a “bundle of dialects resulting from interference by local stock and interaction of the Arabic dialects brought along to Spain in the eighth century by some thousands of Arabs”. During this period of contact, the Arabic language in the Iberian Peninsula went through various stages. From the seventh century to the high Middle Ages, Arabic was the dominant language and the primary source language, meaning that it was the language of prestige from which many borrowings originated. From the fourteenth century until 1 610, Arabic became increasingly stigmatized and marginalized, and its use reduced to Mudejares and Moricos. Starting in the nineteenth century, due to the extensive colonial contact with North Africa as well as the literary movement of Romanticism, there was renewed interest in Arabisms and many were reintroduced. In recent years, with Arab immigration, a new period of contact has been introduced, but is mediated by certain social attitudes. Two language communities (Romance and Arabic) existed in contact and degree of bilingualism fluctuated and was relative to time and location during the period. The occurrence of Arabic words also reaches into the domestic and personal lives of the Iberian people (Rorabaugh, Bar- tolomew, 2010).

One interesting aspect of the era of Arabic rule in Iberia is that, although the Moors held to extremely orthodox forms of Islam, they accepted, and even encouraging, all manner of open science and philosophy among the great thinkers. And so, while the rest of Europe entered the Dark Ages, the Iberian Peninsula acted as a center of culture and learning, especially translating Greek writings. Arabic culture and literature in the middle ages played a role for the Spanish people, in part similar to what antiquity played for Europe during the Renaissance. The result of the long coexistence of the two cultures was their mutual enrichment. As for the vocabulary, we note the following: a large number of Arabic words that name realities were borrowed into Spanish from Arabic. Some of them have fallen out of use, but many have survived and are still alive today.

Furthermore, according to Arnold, words borrowed from Arabic, which have survived in literary Spanish, are gradually dropping out under the influence of journalism. Spanish journalism, and particularly Spanish-American journalism, is strongly influenced by Paris, and the so-called “Latin press” (prensa latino) has no love for words which are not immediately intelligible in any Latin country. One interesting aspect of the era of Arabic rule in Iberia is that, although the Moors held to extremely orthodox forms of Islam, they accepted, and even encouraging, all manner of open science and philosophy among the great thinkers. Therefore, while the rest of Europe entered the Dark Ages, the Iberian Peninsula acted as a center of culture and learning, especially translating Greek writings (Rorabaugh, Bartolomew, 2010).

The influence of the Islamic religion on Arab culture is very powerful. Islam is a religion, but also a way of life for the believer, and this has its reflection in many aspects, among which is the language. The Arabic language is strongly ritualized, in contrast to other languages and cultures. Expressions of Islamic origin are commonly used in everyday speech and are reflected in literature. The translation of these expressions into other languages and other contexts in which the Islamic religion is not a cultural reference constitutes a serious difficulty for the translator. Thus, the Arab period in the history of Spain is an era of broad and deep mutual influences of the West and the East. Through Andalusia, Europe is acquainted with ancient Eastern, and ancient Arab cultural traditions. The Arabs of Spain play a huge role in this cultural mediation.

Arabic also influenced the language of medieval Castilian prose. The study of translated texts clearly shows that the Castilian language of that time was able to convey the expressive content and richness of Arabic grammatical structures. At the same time, he actively adopted and Arabized the selected model. Castilian prose was constantly faced with the need to assert its «individuality, to develop a linguistic identity.

The analysis of culturemas and the strategies for their translation has generated an abundant literature from the second half of the twentieth century. As will be seen in the theoretical framework of this work, authors such as Nida, Newmark, the Slavic School of Vlakhov and Florin, House, Vermeer, Nord and many others were responsible for providing definitions and classifications of specific cultural elements. In addition, many academics have analyzed and classified translation strategies, such as Nida, Margot, Vazquez Ayora, Delisle or Newmark. In their works they could not proceed from the form and style characteristic of the times of the Abbasid and Amavida was with the exception of the poetic genre Muwashshah. This poetic form was created and developed by them. In Andalusia, a unique and incomparable culture is created based on the customs of different peoples.

Results. In Andalusia, the language of culture is Arabic, in which samples of famous fiction and scientific literature are written. After the barbarian takeover due to the transformation of the majority of the people of Andalusia into barbarians, Arabic reaches its height in the narrow circle of the feudal aristocracy. The official language of the country was Arabic. But here, five languages were used in everyday life: Andalusian Arabic, Roman accent/Spanish, classical Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin. Along with the Arabic language, the Arabic folk (Andalusian) dialect and the romance language were used. The root of modern Spanish comes from romance.

Direct Moorish influence, in the form of religious and political power, was finally removed from Spain in the same year Christopher Columbus made his first voyage to the New World. It is clear that many if not most of the cultural trappings the Spanish brought with them to the New World were either touched or directly inspired by the culture that had dominated their country for nearly 800 years.

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