Muslim Conquest of Persia - Language

Language

During the Rashidun Caliphate, the official language of Persia remained Persian, just as the official languages of Syria and Egypt remained Greek and Coptic. However, during the Ummayad Caliphate, the Ummayads imposed Arabic as the primary language of their subjected people throughout their empire, displacing their indigenous languages. Although an area from Iraq to Morocco speaks Arabic to this day, Middle Persian proved to be much more enduring. Most of its structure and vocabulary survived, evolving into the modern Persian language. However, Persian did incorporate a certain amount of Arabic vocabulary, especially words pertaining to religion, and it switched from the Pahlavi Aramaic alphabet to a modified version of the Arabic alphabet.

Read more about this topic:  Muslim Conquest Of Persia

Famous quotes containing the word language:

    Language is filled
    with words for deprivation
    images so familiar
    it is hard to crack language open
    into that other country
    the country of being.
    Susan Griffin (b. 1943)

    So runs my dream: but what am I?
    An infant crying in the night;
    An infant crying for the light:
    And with no language but a cry.
    Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)

    There’s language in her eye, her cheek, her lip,
    Nay, her foot speaks; her wanton spirits look out
    At every joint and motive of her body.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)