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Definition: Arab from Philip's Encyclopedia

Peoples of many nationalities, found predominantly in the Middle East and North Africa, who share a common heritage in the religion of Islam and their language (Arabic). The patriarchal family is the basic social unit in a strongly traditional culture that has been little affected by external influences. Wealth from oil has brought rapid modernization in some Arab countries, but a great deal of economic inequality exists.

Arabs

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
name originally applied to the Semitic peoples of the Arabian Peninsula. It now refers to those persons whose primary language is Arabic. They constitute most of the population of Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, the West Bank, and Yemen; Arab communities are also found elsewhere in the world. The term does not usually include Arabic-speaking Jews (found chiefly in North Africa and formerly also in Yemen and Iraq), Kurds, Berbers, Copts, and Druze, but it does include Arabic-speaking Christians (chiefly found in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan). Socially, the Arabs are divided into two groups: the settled Arab [ fellahin =villagers, or hadar =townspeople] and the nomadic Bedouin . The derivation of the term Arab is unclear, and the meaning of the word has changed several times through history. Some Arab scholars have equated Joktan (Gen. 10.25) with the ancient Arab…
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A Semitic people (see SEMITES ) who originated in the Arabian peninsula but now comprise the ethnic majority in many West Asian and North African states. The term is first found in ASSYRIAN documents of the mid-9th century BC , but was not used by the Arabs until the 4th century AD . The word ‘Arab’ …
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Full text Article Arabs

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
name originally applied to the Semitic peoples of the Arabian Peninsula. It now refers to those persons whose primary language is Arabic. They constitute most of the population of Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, …
| 796 words
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Full text Article Arabs

From Encyclopedia of World Religions: Encyclopedia of Islam
Originally an ethnic designation for the people of Arabia, Arabis now commonly used to refer to people who speak Arabic, claim ancestry in North Africa or the Middle East, or consider themselves nationals in one of the recently created Arab nation-states. In its original meaning, Arab applied to…
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Full text Article Arabs

From Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present Full text Article A-Z Entries
People who speak the Arabic language and identify themselves with Arabic culture. Some 1,500 years ago, the term “Arab” referred to people residing on the Arabian Peninsula. The inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula consisted of nomads (“Bedouins”) and city dwellers. Both of those groups were heavily…
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Full text Article Arab

From The Chambers Dictionary
one of the Semitic people inhabiting Arabia and neighbouring countries; a horse of a native Arabian breed popular for its grace and speed; a neglected or homeless boy or girl ( usu street Arab ; offensive ). adj Arabian. [L Arabs , Arabis , from Gr Araps , Arabos ] /Ə-rā'bi-Ən or - byƏn/ adj of or…
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Full text Article Arab

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Any of the Semitic (see Semite ) people native to the Arabian peninsula, but now settled throughout North Africa and the nations of the Middle East. The homeland of the Arabs comprises Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen. Predominantly Arab nations also…
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Full text Article Arab

From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
An organization, formally the League of Arab States, founded in 1945 in Cairo to ensure cooperation between its member states while protecting their independence and sovereignty. Egypt's membership was suspended in 1979, when the headquarters moved from Cairo to Tunis, but it was readmitted in 1989. …
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Full text Article Pan-Arabism

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
general term for the modern movement for political unification among the Arab nations of the Middle East. Since the Ottoman Turks rose to power in the 14th cent., there have been stirrings among Arabs for reunification as a means of reestablishing Arab political power. At the start of World War I, …
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Full text Article Arab Americans

From Encyclopedia of American Studies
Chicken Hut, an Arab business in Feltonville....
... …
| 2,810 words , 5 images

Full text Article Arab immigration

From Encyclopedia of North American Immigration
Before World War II, the majority of Arabs in North America were the largely assimilated descendants of Christians who emigrated from the Syrian and Lebanese areas of the Ottoman Empire between 1875 and 1920. A second wave of immigration after 1940 was more diverse and more heavily Muslim, including…
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