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Re: Arabic article (was: Corpses)

From:Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>
Date:Tuesday, November 11, 2003, 18:29
Quoting Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...>:

> At 19:45 10.11.2003, Andreas Johansson wrote: > > >When did Spanish acquire proper articles, BTW? Where they already there > when > >the Arabs turned up, or did they arose only later? In the later case it's > easy > >enough to see why the proto-Spaniards treated the al- as part of the word > >proper, I'd say. > > It was the Berber who made out the bulk of the > muslim armies in Spain who treated the Arabic > article as part of the word because Berber > lacks definite articles. Berber langs still > treat the article of new Arabic loans as > part of the word.
Thanks - that's good to know. But I'd still be interested to know when Spanish - and other Romance langs for that matter - acquired articles. Andreas

Reply

John Cowan <jcowan@...>