The Arab Academy of
Damascus
Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
() is the oldest academy regulating the
Arabic language
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
, established in 1918 during the reign of
Faisal I of Syria. It is based in
al-Adiliyah Madrasa, and is modeled on the language academies of Europe, and founded with an explicit reference to the example of the
Académie française
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
.
Arabization
Arabization or Arabicization () is a sociology, sociological process of cultural change in which a non-Arab society becomes Arabs, Arab, meaning it either directly adopts or becomes strongly influenced by the Arabic, Arabic language, Arab cultu ...
was the major mission of the academy after a long period of
Ottoman domination and use of
Ottoman Turkish
Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...
in major parts of the
Arab world
The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...
. Since its establishment, it has been operated by notable committees of Arabic language professors, scholars and experts who re-spread the use of Arabic in the state's institutions and daily life of many Arab countries by adapting widely accepted proceedings and records into Arabic.
The academy has had the following directors:
*
Muhammad Kurd Ali (1919–1953)
*
Khalil Mardam Bey (1953–1959)
* Prince
Mustafa Shahabi (1959–1968)
*
Husni Sabh (1968–1986)
*
Shaker Al-Fahham (1986–2008)
*
Marwan Mahasne (2008–2022)
*
Mahmoud Ahmed Al-Sayed (2022–current)
As of 2011, its library contains some 15,000 volumes and 500 manuscripts.
Resources
Arab Academy of Damascus, From ''Answers''*
Versteegh, Kees. The Arabic Language. New York: Edinburgh UP, 2001. Print. Page 178.
*Rachad Hamzaoui, ''L’Académie Arabe de Damas et le problème de la modernisation de la langue arabe'', Leiden: Brill, 1965.
References
External links
Arab Academy of Damascusاعضاء المجمع العاملون الحاليون
Arabic language regulators
Language regulators
Education in Damascus
1918 establishments in Mandatory Syria
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