| Type | |
| Dates | Middle Ages • 20th century revival |
| Origin | |
| Spread | |
| Status | Regional lingua franca |
| Suppression | |
| Writing system | Arabic script |
| Related languages | Hebrew • Aramaic • Phoenician |
The Arabic language is a Semitic language descended from the Nabatean script, with a rich and varied history. In this alternate timeline, Arabic followed a different path than it did in our timeline, becoming a widely used trade language in the Silk Road and in European markets, but never fully asserting itself as a dominant linguistic force for the Middle East or the wider Islamic world.
The Arabic language first appears in historical records in the 4th century CE, when it was written using the Nabatean script. Throughout its history, Arabic has been greatly influenced by other languages, such as Aramaic, Persian, and Greek, as well as various African tongues. The use of a single script allowed the Arabic language to maintain consistency and unity while still developing locally as the dominant language of commerce and communication in the Middle East and North Africa.
Arabic spread to distant regions along the Silk Road, where it became a key trade language alongside Persian and Turkic. In this alternate timeline, Arabic also made inroads into the markets of Eastern Europe, where it served as a secondary language for trading and diplomacy. This very different path of development in Europe meant that Arabic, though known there, would remain secondary to the dominant Romance and Germanic languages and would not be adopted as a cultural force.
The Arabic group of dialects enjoyed a period of political and cultural importance during the Middle Ages, following the rise of an independent Arabic empire. This empire was considerably smaller than the unified Arab caliphates seen in our reality, and it did not create a lasting literary and scholarly tradition, as power was concentrated among individuals rather than in the state. Arabic did, however, maintain its position as a major trade language, aided by the expansion of the Arabic empire into areas such as the Horn of Africa.
As the centuries passed, the dialects spoken in Africa and the Middle East diverged significantly, until the boundary between them was as clear-cut as between Germanic and Gallo-Romance languages in Europe. These dialect families continued to exist independently even as the Arabic empire declined, leaving two unique language communities with distinct histories, traditions, and literatures. Each side maintained the knowledge of their ascendant origins, yet also emphasized the importance of the local development of the language.
During the era of the Ottoman Empire, Arabic suffered a cultural and linguistic decline as Ottoman Turkish emerged as the dominant language of court and government. Despite their shared Semitic roots, the Ottomans preferred the use of Turkish, and the Arabic language diminished in prestige. This shift continued into the modern era, with Turkish being enshrined as the dominant spoken language of the Ottoman state even as Arabic continued to be used as a lingua franca in commercial and religious matters.
Arabic underwent a cultural revival in the early 20th century, as a new generation of scholars and intellectuals sought to restore the language's prestige and to bring back the rich traditions that had been threatened during the Ottoman era. Key to this revival was the renewed interest in Arabic literature and history, as well as the use of Arabic in political and cultural circles. This revival helped Arabic regain its position as a major language of commerce and communication in the Middle East and North Africa and brought about the establishment of a vibrant and growing Arabic literature to match its rich history. Today, despite the challenges it has faced over the centuries, Arabic remains the mother tongue for millions of people, and has seen a revival as a sub-lingua franca in much of the Middle East, as the regional common language, in areas like the Levant and Iraq where many languages coexist.
