Their language, though one of the most ancient and general in the world, has not escaped the ravages of time, but has undergone such changes and alterations, that even the dialect of the Koran differs as widely from the present Arabic as the Latin does from the Ita lian. It is altogether unintelligible to the vulgar, and is now taught in their schools and colleges as a learned language. The learned Schu/tems maintains, in his Orat. Ling. Arab. p. 28, that the Arabic tongue de scended, in its original purity and perfection, from the deluge to the time of Mahomet. This opinion is also ably and zealously defended by Professor Robertson. in his dissertation " De Origine, &c Lingum Arabiem." This, however, appears to us a very improbable con jecture. For if the language of the Koran has suffered such material changes and corruptions during 1200 years, can we suppose it could have been transmitted pure and unadulterated for a period of more than 3000 ; particularly when we consider that the Koreishites, whose idiom is allowed to have been the purest and richest that was spoken in Arabia, were ignorant of the art of writing ? If the intimate Intercourse which would naturally subsist between the Arabs and the conquered nations may well account for the degeneracy of their language since the age of Mahornat, might not the fre qucnt communication which the ancient Arabs had with distant and neighbouring nations in a commercial cha racter, operate in the same manner upon the ancient Arabic ? That considerable changes were the conse quences of these communications we firmly believe ; and it is even allowed, by the Arabs themselves, that the greatest part of their language has been lost. The difference between the idioms and phraseology of the Koran, and those of the Hebrew or Syriac, renders its degeneracy still more probable, for the Arabic is un questionably a sister dialect of the Hebrew, and must have proceeded from the same origin ; nay, some have even maintained, that, in its original and unadulterated estate, it was pure Hebrew.
The two principal dialects of the ancient Arabic were the dialect or the Koreisli, the descendants of Ishmael, and that spoken by the Hamyarites and other genuine Arabs. The former is supposed to have consisted chiefly of Hebrew, and is ascribed to Ishmael as its au thor, who first spoke it ; and, according to Dr Pococke. formed it of the Hebrew and the language of the Jor hamites, after he had contracted a matrimonial alliance with that nation. The Hamyaritic dialogue approached nearer to the purity of the Syriac, (the original language of the first inhabitants of Arabia,) but is now entirely lost. The dialect of the Koreish, which is denominated in the the perspicuous and char Arabic, claims the preference for harmony and expression to all other Arabian idioms. Their residence at Mecca, whither numerous pilgrims of rank and learning, from every quarter of Arabia, yearly resorted to visit the Caaba, af forded them opportunities of making themselves ac quainted with the beauties of the different dialects of their country, and of transfusing them into their own. At the great feasts, which were held by the pilgrims during their stay in this city, literary compositions, which excited an emulation to excel among the different tribes, formed their chief amusements. From these compositions the Koreish selected such words and ex pressions as they judged most pure and elegant, and adopted them into their own dialect, which acquired by this means a fecundity and beauty peculiarly its own.
In the seventh century it was the general language of Arabia, the other dialects being incorporated with it, or having gradually become obsolete. Mahomet wrote the Koran in this dialect, which he boasted was the lan guage of paradise. It has, however, become a dead language ; and is, at present, studied by the Mahome tans, in the same manner as the Hebrew and Greek are studied by European Christians.
The high commendations bestowed upon this lan guage, not only by the Arabs themselves, who are in deed extravagant in its praise, but by the most eminent European scholars who have studied it with attention, lead us to consider it as excelling in richness, harmony, and energy, every other language in the world. The Arabs represent it as so immensely copious that no person, without inspiration, is able to comprehend it in its whole extent. They allege that it has 1000 terms to express sword, 500 for lion, 200 for serpent, and more than 80 for honey ; yet, notwithstanding this va riety of words, it is equally distinguished for perspi cuity and precision. The learned Professor Hunt ex presses his opinion of the excellencies of the Arabic in his " Orat. de Ling. Arab." Nusquam mihi crcditc, inquit auribus magic parcitur, quam in Arabia ; nulla lingua, a xce,,,apay,a omni alienior, quam Arabica. Quan quam enhn nonnulla cjus litcra minus fortassc suariter, immo durius ctiam sonuerint, ita tamen Arabes eas tcmperarunt, ut asperas cum lcnibus, duras cum mol libus, graves cum acutis, miscendo, voccs indc non minus auditu jucundas, quam pronunciatu faciles con feeerint, totique sermoni miram sonorum tarn dulccdi nem quam varietatem addiderint. Quod quidcm ora tionis modulandx studium in Corano adeo manifestum est ut priori Islamismi oppugnatores cum librum ma gica ideo arte scriptum dixerint. Nee auribus tantum gratus est Arabismus, sed et animi conccptibus expri mendis aptus, sonos suos scntentiis semper accommo dans, et telici vcrborum junctura ipsam rerum naturam depingcns." The Arabic is at present the most extensive language in the world. Wherever the Arabs have carried their conquests, there they have established their language and religion. Besides in Arabia, this language is spoken from Samarcand to Cairo, and extends along the southern coasts of the Mediterranean, even from the Nile to the Niger. This extension, however, has been the great cause of its present debasement, and of the variety of dialects into which it has split. The con quered nations still retained many terms and phrases of their ancient language, which they incorporated with the language of their conquerors. The dialects of these nations bear much the same relation to one another, as the languages of Spain, Portugal, and France. In Ara bia, the dialect spoken by the highlanders of Yemen bears the strongest resemblance to the language of the Koran, from their having little intercourse with stran gers. But throughout the other provinces, the diver sity of dialects and pronunciation is so considerable, that the language of one province is altogether unintel ligible to the inhabitants of another. This degeneracy, however, will not appear surprising, when we take a view of the rise and fall of learning and religion in this country ; and we shall find, that the language and re ligion of the Koran have undergone the same fate.