This blog connects the reader with the rich past and present of Eurasia. The aim is to promote interest in and discussion of history, philology, archaeology and anthropology without forcing the subject to be viewed through the prevalent prisms of Orientalism, Hellenocentrism, and Islamocentrism
Written by Afsheen Sharifzadeh, a graduate of Tufts University focusing on Iran and the Caucasus. The goal of this article is to explore the origins of Moroccan Darija through the lens of local sedentary and Bedouin dialects, and to examine historic contacts with autochthonous Berber languages and foreign languages such as Spanish and Persian. The …
Continue reading Moroccan Darija (Casablancan Koiné): A Historical Approach
Written by Afsheen Sharifzadeh, a graduate of Tufts University focusing on Iran and the Caucasus. This article surveys the Iranian presence in pre-Islamic Arabia and the medieval Islamic world and addresses Classical Arabic loans in Modern Persian. It features an exclusive English-language appendix of 200 Middle Iranian loans into Classical Arabic and their etymologies, compiled by …
Continue reading The Iranian Presence in Classical Arabic and Medieval Islamic Learning