page_title: Old Arabic
hierarchical_section_title: Old Arabic
caption_attribution_description: Arabic epitaph of “Imru-l-Qays, son of 'Amr, king of all the Arabs”, inscribed in Nabataean script. Basalt, dated in 7 Kislul, 223, viz. December, 7 328 AD. Found at Nemara in the Hauran (Southern Syria).
context_page_description: Old Arabic is the earliest attested stage of the Arabic language, beginning with its differentiation from related Central Semitic dialects in the Syrian desert in the early 1st millennium BCE until the emergence of the Arab grammatical tradition in the 8th century CE. Originally written in a variety of scripts, it came to be expressed primarily in a modified Nabataean script after the demise of the Nabataean Kingdom.
context_section_description: Old Arabic is the earliest attested stage of the Arabic language, beginning with its differentiation from related Central Semitic dialects in the Syrian desert in the early 1st millennium BCE until the emergence of the Arab grammatical tradition in the 8th century CE. Originally written in a variety of scripts (Safaitic, Hismaic, Dadanitic, Greek), it came to be expressed primarily in a modified Nabataean script after the demise of the Nabataean Kingdom.
caption: Epitaph of Imru al-Qays ibn Amr (328 AD)
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