English Language and Literature ETDs
Publication Date
Summer 7-29-2025
Abstract
Within the time frame of Middle English, that phase of English language development assigned approximately the years 1100-1500, an influx of some one hundred and eighty Arabic words has been identified. To answer the question of how it was that this significant lexical influence of Arabic took hold in England, so far removed geographically from areas under Islamic governance, many pathways are open to exploration. Grounding this study is the movement of Arabic-speaking tribes north from Arabia in the centuries preceding the Muslim conquest and the post-conquest rise of Arabic as the language of administration. The ultimate dominance of Arabic is attested through two simultaneously unfolding translation movements beginning in the eighth century in the East, one known commonly as the Graeco-Arabic translation movement, the second, less known, but also of major importance, the translation of Christian writings into Arabic by monks in Palestinian desert monastic communities. During the years following the eighth-century Muslim conquest of the major portion of the Iberian Peninsula, expanding opportunities for the movement of Arabic toward Middle English are identified. The transmission of astronomical, mathematical, medical and pharmacological learning from the Islamic East to al-Andalus, in its early stages during the ninth and tenth centuries, is explored along with the implications of language transfer through close encounters between scholars in the Latin West and newly accessible knowledge. In this process, the practice of computistics figures as a salient feature. The study concludes with the crusading experience in the Levant, situated in large part at the intersection of religion and economics. Particular attention is given to the Order of Knights Hospitaller for its potential as an important conveyor of a broad spectrum of Arabic vocabulary into Middle English
Degree Name
English
Level of Degree
Doctoral
Department Name
English
First Committee Member (Chair)
Anita Obermeier
Second Committee Member
Michael Ryan
Third Committee Member
Simon Philips
Fourth Committee Member
Doaa omran
Fifth Committee Member
Diane Thiel
Language
English
Keywords
Middle English, Arabic, Al-Andalus
Document Type
Dissertation
Recommended Citation
Tuoni, Francesca. "ARABIC INTO MIDDLE ENGLISH: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE WORD KIND." (2025). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/engl_etds/441