Jurji Zaydan (1861-1914): A Modernist in Arabic Linguistics

SUMMARYThis article explores Jurji Zaydan's contribution to questions that the Arabic language was confronted with at the turn of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. These questions pertained to the capability of Arabic as a medium of communication, its appropriateness to express new ideas, and its suitability for use in education and for naming technological items borrowed from the West. As can be imagined, the pre-occupation of the Nahdah Arab intellectuals with linguistic matters was immense. Nonetheless Zaydan's contribution to these debates consists of constant writings in his magazine al-Hilal (1892-1913), and two books that specifically dealt with linguistic matters.Zaydan's linguistic views were relevant to the on-going debate in many intellectual circles at that time. He had no doubts about the suitability of 'simplified' Classical Arabic in education as the case was proven at the Syrian Protestant College (now the American University of Beirut) in the 1860s. In order to fill the then existing vacuum, Zaydan took it as his responsibility to write (text)books in Arabic for use in Egyptian schools. The suitability of Arabic in education and the capability of the language to adapt itself to new situations was placed in a historical perspective by Zaydan. He argued that much as Arabic had adapted to new orders in the past, i.e., the rise of Islam (7th century), the translation period (9th-10th centuries), so can the language adapt itself to Western 'imports' at his time. Again, as if to prove his point and in order to bridge the gap between al-fusha and al-cAmmiyyah, the language of the common people, Zaydan adopted a simple style in diction and syntax in his writings.Zaydan, unlike many of his contemporary Arab scholars, followed in the footsteps of many Western scholars, both predating and contemporary to him, by equipping himself with knowledge of many languages, Eastern and Western, and by applying some of these scholars' methodologies of investigation. In order for Arabic to accommodate new technologies and ideas, the language must be subject to changes, in Zaydan's view, as it was subject to changes at the rise of Islam in the 7th century and during the 9th and 10th centuries when many translations into Arabic were made. Zaydan rejected calls for the use of dialects in writing, thus arguing that al-fusha, i.e., the Classical Arabic language, was a unifying bond among Arabic-speaking lands. Zaydan's actual treatment of language matters are innovative for his time. Arabic, in his view, was subject to change and evolution, not static. He examined the language by placing it in a wider perspective, i.e., in its context in the Semitic family, and in its relations to other non-Semitic languages that Arabic had come in contact with at its varying stages of growth such as Persian and Turkish in the earlier centuries, and French and English in the 19th century. Zaydan's use of comparative methodology is innovative compared to the ways of studying Arabic at his time. However, Zaydan's views on language origin and development can be characterized by the criteria of our times as superficial.RESUMECet article analyse la contribution de Jurji Zaydan (1861-1914) aux problemes que la langue arabe rencontra a la fin du XIXe siecle et au debut du XXe, problemes relatifs a sa capacite de communiquer, a son efficacite a exprimer de nouvelles idees et a sa fonction en tant que medium d'education capable de definir le langage technologique importe de l'Ouest. Comme on peut l'imaginer, les preoccupations linguistiques de l'intellectuel arabe pendant la Nahdah "renaissance" etaient immenses. Zaydan contribua au debat en ecrivant dans son magazine al-Hilal "le croissant" (1892-1913) et en publiant deux livres sur la linguistique.Zaydan ne douta pas de la capacite educatrice de l'arabe classique simplifie puisque cette Langue fut utilisee au Syrian Protestant College (Factuelle Universite Americaine de Beyrouth) dans les annees 1860. Zaydan publia des textes en arabe pour les ecoles egyptiennes afin de combler le vide qui existait alors dans ce domaine. Il se basa sur une perspective historique pour montrer que l'arabe etait capable de s'adapter a l'education ainsi qu'aux exigences des situations nouvelles. Dans le passe, la langue arabe s'etait adaptee a l'Islam au septieme siecle, et a la periode des traductions des neuvieme et dixieme siecles. Elle pouvait donc s'adapter aux "importations" venues de l'Ouest. Afin de defendre sa position, Zaydan decida de faire la soudure entre al-Fusha — la langue arabe classique — et al-cAm-miyyah — la langue du peuple — et d'adopter un style simple dans ses ecrits. Zaydan, a l'encontre d'autres intellectuels arabes, suivit l'exemple de beaucoup d'intellectuels occidentaux: il accepta certaines de leurs methodes et apprit plusieurs langues de l'Est et de l'Ouest. Selon Zaydan, il fallait modifier la langue arabe, comme elle le fut au septieme siecle quand l'Islam apparut et aux neuvieme et dixieme siecles quand on traduit des textes en arabe, afin de l'adapter aux idees et aux technologies nouvelles. Zaydan refusa d'utiliser les dialectes dans ses ecrits, car il considerait al-Fusha comme un lien unificateur entre les pays de langue arabe.L'analyse linguistique de Zaydan representa une importante innovation pour son epoque. Selon Zaydan, la langue arabe etait capable de changement et d'evolution, elle n'etait pas statique. Il l'examina en la placant dans un contexte plus large: celui de la famille semitique, et dans les relations qu'elle entretint durant ses differentes etapes de developpement avec d'autres langues non-semitiques, telles que le persan et le turc dans les siecles precedents, et le francais et l'anglais durant le dix-neuvieme siecle. La methodologie comparee de Zaydan etait innovatrice par rapport a celles qu'utilisaient ses contemporains; toutefois, jugees avec nos criteres modernes, ses theories sur les origines et le developpement de la langue restent superficielles.