Lives of the Great Languages: Arabic and Latin in the Medieval Mediterranean

249 Pages·2021·1.618 MB·

by  Karla Mallette

Lives of the Great Languages

Lives of the
Great Languages
Arabic and Latin in
the Medieval Mediterranean
Karla Mallette
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2021 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in
the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more
information, contact the University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60th
Street, Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2021
Printed in the United States of America
30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 79590- 4 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 79606- 2 (paper)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 79623- 9 (e- book)
DOI: https:// doi. org /10 .7208 /chicago /9780226796239 .001 .0001
Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data
Names: Mallette, Karla, author.
Title: Lives of the great languages : Arabic and Latin in the medieval
Mediterranean / Karla Mallette.
Description: Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2021. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021007622 | ISBN 9780226795904 (cloth) | ISBN
9780226796062 (paperback) | ISBN 9780226796239 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Arabic language—History. | Latin language—His-
tory. | Mediterranean Region—Languages.
Classification: LCC PJ6075 .M35 2021 | DDC 492.709—dc23
LC record available at https:// lccn.loc .gov/ 2021007622
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992
(Permanence of Paper).
This book, about languages that neither live nor die,
is dedicated to the living and the dead.
For A. G. Rigg, Latinist
1937– 2019
For Michael Bonner, Arabist
1952– 2019
For Evangeline, native informant on
the English of the living

Contents
Part I: Group Portrait with Language
Chapter 1 A Poetics of the Cosmopolitan Language 3
Chapter 2 My Tongue 21
Chapter 3 A Cat May Look at a King 32
Part II: Space, Place, and the Cosmopolitan Language
Chapter 4 Territory / Frontiers / Routes 45
Chapter 5 Tracks 58
Chapter 6 Tribal Rugs 71
Part III: Translation and Time
Chapter 7 The Soul of a New Language 89
Chapter 8 On First Looking into Mattā’s Aristotle 101
Chapter 9 “I Became a Fable” 113
Chapter 10 A Spy in the House of Language 126
Part IV: Beyond the Cosmopolitan Language
Chapter 11 Silence 145
Chapter 12 The Shadow of Latinity 156
Chapter 13 Life Writing 168
Acknowledgments 185
Notes 187
Bibliography 215
Index 233
vii

[Part One]
Group Portrait with Language