The word “Arabic” can be used as acollective name for a large number of varieties,spoken in a vast area from the Persian Gulf toMauritania, often alongside of other locallanguages. It is also the term for Modern StandardArabic (a standardized variety that developed in theArabic world over a hundred years ago) and ClassicalArabic (the language used in the Quran and textsfrom the same period). The latter two varietiesdiffer mostly in vocabulary, and for Arabic speakersare variants of the same language. The identityconveyed by the term “Arabic” is so strong that itoverrides the many linguistic differences betweenthe varieties of the language. The written versionof the language is mostly the standard variety. LikeHebrew, Arabic is a Semitic language and it belongsto the Afro-asiatic language family. The Arabicscript dates back to the fourth century CE, and isalso used for many other languages in countries witha strong Islamic tradition. The Qur’an has beeninstrumental in giving shape to the extremely richArabic literary tradition, which covers many genres:poetry has been very important, as well as religiousstudies, surprisingly many cookbooks, but alsoplays, novels, and scholarly treatises. Only a smallpart of this tradition is known in the West. As isalready apparent from the writing system, words arecharacterized through their consonants, and vowelsadded for extra information.