The word “Arab” in modern times is applied to a large group of different people, because they have something in common which is speaking the Arabic language. The Arabic language for the majority of them isn’t actually their original one but the tongue enforced to their forefathers by the Arabian conquerors. The definition of the word “Arab” is ethnically improper, in the same way as it would be inappropriate to call “French” to all French speaking people. The result of annexation and the following wiping out of the original pre-Arabic culture is that Arab countries don’t only have the language in common, but cultural features and traditions as well. Therefore, people who speak the Arabic language can be best called “Arabized” people rather …show more content…
Being an Ishmaelite equal to being an Arab is a myth because Ishmaelite himself was not an Arab, nor the forefather of all Arabs, since he was the forefather of intermarried tribes. His origin contributed to the formation of the people that came to be known as Arabs some centuries later. (“Origin and Identity of the Arabs,” n.d.) The word “Arab” has a meaning that is unknown; when and by whom this people began to be called Arabs is unknown too. The most original sources where the term Arab appeared the first time are the Hebrew Scriptures, during the rebuilding of the Temple under the Persian Empire and applied in an unclear manner to some Nabatean tribes. In the same period, also the Greek historian Herodotus mentions the Arabs, seemingly in reference to the Yemenite tribes. (“Origin and Identity of the Arabs,” …show more content…
and its probable etymology may be of Semitic origin that the word “ ‘arabah ” means wilderness and the suffix “ 'ereb “ means mixture of peoples. Both terms are appropriate to them because wherever Arabs have conquered, the lands became deserted; the Arabian peninsula itself was not so dry actually and to prove it, Yemen which is a country in the Arabian Peninsula that had an irrigation network that allowed the land to be fruitful became dry after the Northern Arabs invaded and restrained the Sabean kingdom. The second term is also suitable to define Arabs, as they are indeed a mixture of different peoples. Arabs themselves recognize to come from two unrelated headmen: Qahtan (Southern Arabs) and Adnan (Northern Arabs), to be respectively identified with a Sabean and an Ishmaelite ancestor. (Thearabiannight100, 2011)
In the most ancient records, the whole Arabia was commonly intended under the common name of “Kush”. Then, there has been a clear difference between Northern and Southern Arabia since early times that lasted for centuries. The Arabs are the result of the progressive mixture of both Northern and Southern Arabia that developed over the original Kushite background. (Thearabiannight100,