Re: OT: Defining words and how they are used

Quoting "Joseph B." <darkmoonman@...>:

>  > One of the reasons for keeping the Quran in "Cassic Arabic" is to keep
> things pure and no miunderstandings?
>
> IMO, this would work only if either Arabic never had any shifts in the
> meanings of words or everyone reading/hearing the Qurân were a historical
> scholar in the language. More likely, keeping it in Classic Arabic serves
> two needs: mentally rendering the passages "sacred" - i.e. setting a
> specific mindset; and appealing to the idea that old = better or correct,
> new = degraded.

I don't known much about Islamic cultures, but one is tempted to suspect that it
also often serves to help maintain the distinction between the educated and the
unwashed masses, particularly in areas where the vernacular is a non-Arabic
language. Think of Latin in the European Middle Ages.

                                                         Andreas