Oriental Studies – Arabic Studies

Arabic (Arabic: العَرَبِيَّة‎) al-ʻarabiyyah [ʔalʕaraˈbijːah] ( listen) or (Arabic: عَرَبِيّ‎) ʻarabī [ˈʕarabiː] ( listen) or [ʕaraˈbij]) is a Central Semitic language that first emerged in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. It is named after the Arabs, a term initially used to describe peoples living from Mesopotamia in the east to the Anti-Lebanon mountains in the west, in northwestern Arabia, and in the Sinai peninsula. Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage comprising 30 modern varieties, including its standard form (Modern Standard Arabic).

Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies. Traditional Oriental studies in Europe is today generally focused on the discipline of Islamic studies, while the study of China, especially traditional China, is often called Sinology, the study of East Asia, especially in the United States, is often called East Asian studies, and the study of Israel and Jews are called Israel studies and Jewish studies respectively, although they are often considered the same field.