Arabic versus Greek (3) : Arabo-Greek entagia (tax payment orders) and the symbolic presence of Arabic - an administration still dependent on Greek speakers - the private use of Arabic in the 7th century - assessment of Arabization in the 7th century acco

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One of the most revealing types of documentary evidence of the Arabization of the administration is theentagion, a payment order sent by the administration to a community or an individual. Entagia operated on several levels. The governor sent entagia (level 1) addressed to local authorities to dukes and pagarchs: these were written in Arabic and then Greek (at least before 720-730, when Arabic became exclusive), an obviously highly symbolic order. Dukes and pagarchs, after distributing the tax due among taxpayers, drew up entagia (level 2) or delegated this task to village authorities: they are written in Greek in Fayoum or in Coptic in Middle and Upper Egypt. The linguistic codes followed by the entagia thus reveal a clear linguistic stratification: the central government sends out orders in Arabic, accompanied by a Greek version so that they can be understood by all. The occupiers therefore took pragmatic account of the country's linguistic situation, without, however (from the 690s onwards), giving up the primarily symbolic presence of their language in the documents. Once these were relayed to the grassroots by the intermediate level, only Greek or Coptic were used.

These entagia corresponded to a new fiscal reality imposed by the Arabs, followed a form and layout that were in part innovative and also imposed by the Arabs (although they may have imported it), and placed Arabic in a superior position as the language of reference. At least, that's what the formal characteristics of these orders would have us believe.

Behind the entagia 's formal supremacy of Arabic, however, lies a major weakness: the new Arab administration's heavy dependence on Greek expertise. Among other clues, the difference in writing dates between the Arabic and Greek parts suggests that these orders were first issued in the Greek department of the central administration before being passed on to an Arabic-speaking department for translation. All this suggests that the Greeks still held the administration of military and fiscal affairs(diwān al-ğund/al-ḫarāğ), as confirmed by literary sources according to which the Christian Antônios, necessarily Hellenophone, was at its head under Maslama b. Muḫallad (667-682), then Athanasios and Isaac under 'Abd al-'Azīz, information moreover cross-checked by papyri.

But when we leave the spheres of central administration, papyri containing Arabic become extremely rare in the ^viie century (five legal texts; three private letters). The fact that the legal texts are all documents relating to debts is explained by a Koranic precept which enjoins the written word in the case of debts(Koran, Sura 2, verse 282). As for the private letters, they all seem to be of a commercial nature, presenting Arabo-Muslims in their commercial activities. Thus, the purely private sphere slips away. What's more, they are all monolingual, testifying to a practice of Arabic that is confined to Arabo-Muslim circles. Arabization has not yet penetrated Egyptian society.

Speaker(s)

Jean-Luc Fournet

Professor at the Collège de France

Arabic versus Greek (3) : Arabo-Greek entagia (tax payment orders) and the symbolic presence of Arabic - an administration still dependent on Greek speakers - the private use of Arabic in the 7th century - assessment of Arabization in the 7th century according to papyri

Speaker(s)

Jean-Luc Fournet

Events

Study of Byzantine papyri relating to multilingualism (1)

Introductory lecture (1) : why ?

Study of Byzantine papyri relating to multilingualism (2)

Introductory lecture (2) : a few definitions and methodological caveats

Study of Byzantine papyri relating to multilingualism (3)

Introductory lecture (3) : terminology of multilingualism in Greek and perception of mu…

Study of Byzantine papyri relating to multilingualism (4)

Introductory lecture (4) : perception of multilingualism in the Greco-Roman world (end)

Study of Byzantine papyri relating to multilingualism (5)

Pehlevi (Middle Persian) versus Greek and Egyptian (1)

Study of Byzantine papyri relating to multilingualism (6)

Pehlevi (Middle Persian) versus Greek and Egyptian (2)

Arabic versus Greek (1) : a changing country, changing documentation - met…

Study of Byzantine papyri relating to multilingualism (7)

Arabic versus Greek (2) : the policy of Arabization according to literary sources -…

Study of Byzantine papyri relating to multilingualism (8)

Arabic versus Greek (3) : Arabo-Greek entagia (tax payment orders) and the sym…

Study of Byzantine papyri relating to multilingualism (9)

Arabic versus Greek (4) : the decisive decades (end of the Umayyad period) (top)

Arabic versus Greek (5) : the decisive decades (end of the Umayyad period) (end)

The movement of people in 7th- and 8th-century Egypt …

Arabic versus Greek (6) : the impact of Arabization on Greek

See also

Arabic versus Greek (3) : Arabo-Greek entagia (tax payment orders) and the symbolic presence of Arabic - an administration still dependent on Greek speakers - the private use of Arabic in the ^7th century - assessment of Arabization in the ^7th century according to papyri

The movement of people in ^7th- and ^8th-century Egypt …