176 report — 1859. 



GEOGRAPHY AND ETHNOLOGY. 



On the Arabic-speaking Population of the World. 

 By A. Ameuney (a Syrian). 



The Arabic has 29 letters, which, with the combinations and the vowels, make about 

 36. Seven of these letters are, to a foreigner, exceedingly difficult to pronounce. 

 The Arabic being an original language, it has, of course, the masculine and the femi- 

 nine genders — and the dual. It has more. It has a personal pronoun, and a pro- 

 noun attached to the verb, like the Latin amo. It has feminine in the singular and 

 in the plural to the verbs ; so, if two people happen to be in the next room, and they 

 were talking, you would know whether they be ladies or gentlemen, or whether one 

 be a lady or a gentleman ; or whether the speaker be a lady or a gentleman, or 

 whether the party spoken to be a lady or a gentleman. Not so in any other language 

 — partly only in Greek. We have singular, dual, and plural— plural below No. 10, 

 and above No. 10 ; we have a plural of plurals, and a collective plural, and its plural. 

 Let us see what we can do with these roots. Take the word love. We want to use 

 it in English : we add r, and make lover, or ing, and make loving ; or prefix be, and 

 make beloved ; but you have to say the place of love, the cause of love, and the 

 course of love (they say it never runs smooth)! You have kill, and a knife, and 

 butcher, and slaughter-house ! We have nine letters, say a, b, c, and, by adding or 

 prefixing one or more of these to the original, Ave make a word — one for the place, 

 one for the instrument, one for the cause, and one for the passion. Take the word 

 love, again, as a verb. You can only say might, should, or would, love ; cause to 

 love, command to love, ask to be loved, to be passionately in love, and to fall in love. 

 But with us, we have thirteen other letters, and, by prefixing or adding one or more 

 to the original word, we change the meaning. We only change the accent of the noun, 

 and make it a verb. You have something like it — a present, and to present, a record, 

 and to record. There are 05,000 words in the English Dictionary. We have 150,000 

 in the Arabic, and, when the derivatives are added, the language becomes really for- 

 midable. There are a few languages in which there are more than four or five names 

 for an object. You have sword, scimitar, and cutlass, but we have 150 names for this 

 instrument of death. We have 160 for an old woman, 120 for the hyena, and I 

 should feel ashamed to tell you how many for the lion, the camel, and the horse. It 

 is all very well for a poet, who wants to rhyme his verses, to have many words at his 

 command, but the language becomes very formidable for the scholar and the foreigner. 

 The Arabs did not differ from other primitive nations. They traded with, warred 

 against, hated, and loved their neighbours. Their wars were mostly with the Persians 

 and the Abyssinians, for their poems refer to these nations in particular. They 

 had their national assemblies, as we have here now. There was one in particular 

 like the British Association — that is, comparing small with great things. During the 

 month of Moharem they ceased their wars, and they met at Ackos, where the great 

 poets recited their poems, and arbitrators decided which was the first, second, and 

 third best. The first was then inscribed in letters of gold, and hung up at the Kaaba. 

 We have seven of these poems (Moallakat), and many other lesser ones. Few na- 

 tions have ever produced their equal, — I speak not lightly of the poetry of other na- 

 tions. It was my great desire to read Sir Walter Scott's poetry that urged me to 

 learn the English language. I have read several of the best poets in English, French, 

 Italian, and Latin, but all appear to me to write too much. An Arab poet says all 

 he wishes to say in a few verses. I am sure all Arab poetry is burning with a strong 

 passion. The wars of Arabs have ever been either for women or horses, and their 

 poetry is full of expressions about them. The eyes, the lips, the breath, the neck, 

 and skin of a woman have more names than I could tell you of. Terreack! breath 

 of life ; wine, coffee, water of life, and paradise. The Arabs in their native simpli- 

 city are frugal, can endure fatigue, hunger and thirst, but the Arab can never become 

 rich, because he is so generous. From the days of Abraham to this day his great 

 delight is to entertain strangers. They have no hotel charges. Brotherhood is one of 

 their strong ties. One becomes a brother either by a present or service rendered. 

 People who live in towns present — give to one of the chiefs, and he can travel amongst 

 the tribes. Antar had made war on a tribe, defeated it, and was leading the people 

 into captivity. A man called out to him, El Goman, Antar I— that is, The Covenant, 



