Arabic Primer

Description

Bearing the subtitle “Consisting of 180 Short Sentences Containing 30 Primary Words”, Sir Arthur Cotton’s Arabic Primer is an excellent educational aid for those who want to learn Arabic.

The book has 12 chapters, each of them presenting a specific aspect of the Arabic vocal system or grammar. The first chapter contains instructions to using the book, then from the second chapter onwards it moves on to discuss issues related to the alphabet, to pronouns, articles, numbers, names used for the seasons, the days of the week and the months of the year and then it offers a vocabulary with words carefully chosen with practical considerations in mind. The language of the book is easy to understand and clear – you don’t need to be a linguist to learn Arabic from Sir Arthur Cotton’s book.

Sir Arthur Cotton was born in 1803, as the tenth son of Field Marshal Lord Combermere. After graduating from the military seminary of the East India Company, he was first stationed in North Wales, then in Madras, in India. He conducted several marine surveys and he participated in major projects of evaluating existing dams and building new ones. In 1848 he was transferred to Australia, where he worked on river projects. In the 1850’s he returned to India to continue working on large-scale projects involving the Krishna River.

Cotton wrote his book on Arabic after he retired to his mansion in Dorking. He was learning the language from an Arabic student he invited to his home and they compiled the book together to help missionaries in countries where Arabic is spoken. Though the book was written around a century and a half ago, it is a great book that can be easily used even today – a very efficient learning tool that will enable you to say your first sentences in Arabic after a very short time spent studying.
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