Arabic words living in Spanish, Italian and French
From sugar to zero, Arabic words crossed the sea and are still used every day in the languages of southern Europe.
An open library of articles, books and research papers
Knowledge that crosses languages and shores
Articles, books and research papers on history, thought, language and science, presented in five languages for readers on both shores of the Mediterranean and beyond.
How paper travelled from Samarkand to Europe
China invented paper, but the Islamic world spread it. The story of a material that changed bookmaking from Baghdad to Xàtiva and Fabriano.
Fields
Everything in the library is sorted by field, so you can go straight to what interests you.
Latest articles
View allIbn Khaldun and asabiyya: why states rise and fall
More than six centuries ago, Ibn Khaldun explained the life cycle of states with one idea: the solidarity that binds people together, then wears away.
The House of Wisdom: the translation workshop that changed the history of science
In Abbasid Baghdad, Greek, Persian and Indian works were translated into Arabic, and the word algorithm was born.
From the bookshelf
View allThe Muqaddimah
Ibn Khaldun's introduction to his history, which became a classic in its own right on society, the state and the economy.
Hayy ibn Yaqzan
A philosophical tale from al-Andalus about a child who grows up alone on an island and reasons his way to life's great questions.
The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing
The book that gave algebra its name and set out systematic methods for solving equations.
The Book of Animals
A vast literary encyclopedia of animals that blends observation with poetry and anecdote, among the most enjoyable works in Arabic prose.
Research papers
View allArabic loanwords in the Romance languages: a comparison of Spanish, Italian and French
This paper compares how Arabic words entered three European languages and classifies them by semantic field and route of transmission.
Paper and the book market in Abbasid Baghdad
How the spread of paper changed the knowledge economy of Baghdad, from the cost of copying to the rise of the booksellers' market.
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