Lecture | Workshop

The History of the Arabic Script: New Discoveries and Developments

Date: Wednesday 26 April 2023
Time: 16:00 - 18:00
Location: Lipsius
Cleveringaplaats 1
2311 BD Leiden
Room: 2.37

Fragments of a Hijazi Qurʼān probably written in the second century A.H./eighth century A.D.

This workshop will present and discuss recent advances in the study of the Arabic script, orthography and language, beginning in Nabataean times, with an investigation of the Arabic impact on the language of the Nahal Hever papyri by Benjamin Suchard. Marijn van Putten will then examine the evolution of Arabic orthography, from the Nabataeo-Arabic period to the rise of Islam. Finally, Ahmad Al-Jallad will present the latest epigraphic discoveries from the Ḥijāz, with remarks on their linguistic and cultural context.

Programme

16:00-16:15 Opening

16:15-16:45 Benjamin Suchard - "Arabic in the Nabataean Papyri"

16:45-17:15 Marijn van Putten - "The Hijazi Orthography and the Implications for Literacy in the pre-Islamic Hijaz"

17:15-17:45 Ahmad Al-Jallad - " The Paleo-Arabic inscriptions of the Hijaz"

17:45-18:00 Discussion