Mozarabic language

Mozarabic was a continuum of closely related Iberian Romance dialects spoken in Muslim dominated areas of the Iberian Peninsula during the early stages of the Romance languages' development in Iberia. This set of dialects came to be known as the Mozarabic language, though there was never a common standard. Unlike most Romance languages, Mozarabic was written in the Arabic alphabet rather than the Latin alphabet.

This variety of Romance is the first documented in writing in the Peninsula as choruses (kharjas) (9th century) in Arabic lyrics called muwashshahs. As they were written in Arabic alphabet, the vowels had to be reconstructed. In some aspects, it is more archaic than the other Romance languages.

This Romance variety had a significant impact in the formation of Portuguese, Spanish and especially the Valencian, which explains why these languages have so many words of Andalusi Arabic origin (Mozarabic was, understandably, quite influenced by Arabic and vice versa). In Portugal, the local Mozarabic dialects are known today as Lusitanian-Mozarabic (Lusitano-moçarabe).

The cultural language of Mozarabs continued to be Latin, but as time passed, young Mozarabs studied and even excelled at Arabic.

Sample text (11th century)

Mio sîdî ïbrâhîm
yâ tú uemme dolge
fente mib
de nohte
in non si non keris
irey-me tib
gari-me a ob
legar-te
Mi señor Ibrahim,
¡oh tú, hombre dulce!
vente a mí
de noche.
Si no, si no quieres,
iréme a ti,
dime a dónde
encontrarte.
Meu senhor Ibrâhim,
ó tu, homem doce!
vem a mim
de noite.
Senão, se não quiseres,
ir-me-ei a ti,
diz-me onde
te encontro.
My lord Abraham
oh you sweet man
Come to me
at night.
If not, if you don't want to,
I will go to you,
tell me where
to meet you.

Mozarabic:	Spanish:	Portuguese:	English:

External links

Medieval languages | Western Romance languages | Languages of Spain | Languages of Portugal | Extinct Romance languages

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Sample text (11th century)

See also

External links