Siculo-Arabic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Siculo-Arabic was a dialect of Arabic spoken in Sicily between the ninth and the fourteenth centuries.
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[edit] The First Arab Invasion of Sicily 652 AD
In 535, Emperor Justinian I made Sicily a Byzantine province, and for the second time in Sicilian history, the Greek language became a familiar sound across the island. As the power of the Byzantine Empire waned, Sicily was invaded by the Arabs in 652AD. However, this was a short lived invasion and the Arabs left soon after.
[edit] The Arab Conquest of Sicily 827 AD - 1091 AD
In 827 an Arab Army (Aghlabid dynasty from Tunis) landed in Mazara, by 878 all Sicily was conquered and Arabic became the official language of the island (Greek remained used in some enclaves in the Eastern part of the island and survived as Vulgar Sicilian) till the mid 10th century. The Arab Emirs who ruled Sicily from Palermo (Balharm) were progressive monarchs and Sicily enjoyed a sustained period of economic prosperity and intellectual enlightenment.
[edit] The Norman-Arab era 1091 AD - 1224 AD
The Normans entered Sicily 1060 and in the following 30 years they replaced the Arab Emirs (in Palermo from 10 January 1072, and in Noto from 1091). However, the Normans allowed the Arabic language to remain in use, starting the Norman-Arab Era.
During this period, Sicily became one of the wealthiest states in Europe, and according to historian John Julius Norwich, Palermo under the Normans became wealthier than the England of its day. In 1154 the most famous Siculo-Arab of the Arab-Norman era, al-Idrisi, made a large, south-oriented mappa mundi known as the Tabula Rogeriana and an accompanying book, named Geography. Taken together, they were named Nuzhat al-Mushtak by Roger and Kitab Rudjar ("Roger's Book") by al-Idrisi. Most Siculo-Arab literature was lost when the Aragonese arrived.
May God guard a house of Noto, and may the swollen clouds flow above it!
With filial regret I yearn for the country, towards which the abodes of its beautiful women draw me
And whoever has left in his soul the imprint of an abode, to that place he desires to return in the body
Long live that populated and cultivated land, may even the traces and ruins live in it!
I yearn for my land, in whose dust were consumed the limbs and bones of my ancestors!
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- Ibn Hamdis, Siculo-Arab poet from Noto
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[edit] Decline and Extinction
After only a century, however, the Norman Hauteville dynasty died out and the south German (Swabian) Hohenstaufen dynasty ruled starting in 1194, adopting Palermo as its principal seat from 1220. But local Christian-Muslim conflicts fueled by the Crusades were escalating during this later period, and in 1224-1231, Frederick II, grandson of Roger II, expelled the last remaining resisting Muslims (about 5,000) from Sicily to Lucera in Apulia (which then formed part of his kingdom), while the rest of the Arab population concentrated in the West became Catholic. With the conversion Siculo-Arabic lost its last use in daily life, and Siculo-Arabic remained in use in mainland Italy (Lucera) until it became extinct in the early 14th century.
[edit] Arabic words in Modern Sicilian
Today Arabic influence is noticeable in hundreds of Sicilian words, most of which relate to agriculture and related activities. This is understandable since the Arabs introduced to Sicily the most (then) modern irrigation and farming techniques and a new range of crops - nearly all of which remain endemic to the island to this day.
Some words of Arabic origin:
babbaluciu - snail
burnia - jar
cafisu - measure for liquids (from qafiz)
cassata - sicilian cake (from Cashta)
gebbia - artificial pond to store water for irrigation (from gabiya)
giuggiulena - sesame seed (from giulgiulan)
saia - canal (from saqiya)
tanura - oven (from tanur)
zaffarana - saffron (type of plant whose flowers are used for medicinal purposes) (from safara)
zagara - blossom (from zahar)
zibbibbu - type of grape (from zabib)
zuccu - tree trunk (from suq; but Aragonese soccu and Spanish zoque -both derived from Arabic).
It should be borne in mind that throughout the Arab epoch of Sicilian history, a large Greek population remained on the island and continued to use the Greek language, or most certainly, a variant of Greek heavily influenced by Arabic. What is less clear is the extent to which a Latin-speaking population survived on the island. While a form of Vulgar Latin clearly survived in isolated communities during the Arab epoch, there is much debate as to the influence it had (if any) on the development of the Sicilian language, following the relatinisation of Sicily. The most probable conclusion is that if there was any influence, it is likely to have been minor. This view is supported by the fact that there are few Sicilian words reflecting an archaic Latin form (as may be found, for example, in Sard). However, some forms do exist, so the tantalizing prospect of a Sicilian form of a Vulgar Latin surviving the Arab period and influencing the modern development of Sicilian remains open.
