Arwi

Arwi أروي‎
Arwi written in Arabic Script
Script type	Abjad
Time period	Present
Status	Religious Uses
Direction	Right-to-left script
Region	India, Sri Lanka
Languages	Tamil
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian hieroglyphs Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Syriac Nabataean Arabic Arwi
Sister systems	Arabi Malayalam
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Arab (160), ​Arabic
Unicode
Unicode alias	Arabic

Arwi (أَرْوِيُّ‎ ʾArwīyyu) or Arabu-Tamil (Template:Lang-ta, عَرَبُتَّمِۻْ Araputtamiḻ) is an Arabic-influenced dialect of the Tamil language written with an extension of the Arabic alphabet, with extensive lexical and phonetic influences from the Arabic language. Arwi has been used extensively by the Muslims of the Tamil Nadu state of India and Sri Lanka.

History

Arwi script in a tombstone at Kilakarai, Old Jumma Masjid

Arwi was an outcome of the cultural synthesis between seafaring Arabs and Tamil-speaking Muslims of Tamil Nadu. This language was enriched, promoted and developed in Kayalpattinam. It had a rich body of work in jurisprudence, Sufism, law, medicine and sexology, of which little has been preserved. It was used as a bridge language for Tamil Muslims to learn Arabic. The patrons of Arwi seem to have been the Nawab of the Carnatic, they were Islamic and were part of the Mughal Empire. Many hadith manuscripts have been found. Most of the fiqh books, particularly those of Imaam Abu Hanifa and Imaam Shaafi, have been found in Arwi.

There was also a translation of the Bible into Arwi in 1926.

Arwi still has a place among the more Arwi Muslim and Sri Lankan Moor families.

Script

Sample text written in Arwi.

The Arwi alphabet is the Arabic alphabet, with thirteen additional letters used to represent the Tamil vowels e and o and several Tamil consonants that could not be mapped to Arabic sounds.

Vowels

Arwi vowels arranged according to the Tamil order (right to left)

அ

ஆ

இ

ஈ

உ

ஊ

எ

ஏ

ஐ

ஒ

ஓ

ஔ

اَ‎

اٰ‎

يِـ‎‎ (1)

يِيْـ‎ (1)

اُ‎

اُوْ‎

يࣣـ‎ (1)

يࣣيْـ‎ (1)

اَيْـ‎

اٗ‎

اٗوْ‎

اَوْ‎

—

ா

ி

ீ

ு

ூ

ெ

ே

ை

ொ

ோ

ௌ

்

◌َ‎

◌َـا‎

◌ِ‎

◌ِيْـ / ◌ِيْ‎

◌ُ‎

◌ُوْ‎

◌ࣣ‎

◌ࣣيْـ / ◌ࣣيْ‎

◌َيْـ / ◌َيْ‎

◌ٗ‎

◌ٗوْ‎

◌َوْ‎

◌ْ‎

a

ā

i

ī

u

ū

e

ē

ai

o

ō

au

∅

Notes

1. Unlike other vowels, and unlike in Persian, Urdu, or Arabic, when vowels i, ī, e, ē come at the beginning of a word (respectively இ, ஈ, எ, ஏ), the vowel carrier is not alif (ا) but is instead yeh (یـ). This spelling indicates the loss of glottal stop in words which start with these vowels, and its replacement by a palatal sound. In rare cases, these vowels have indeed been written with alif as their base.

Consonants

Arwi alphabet

Arabic (Tamil) (Latin) [IPA]	ا‎ ‌(ஆ) (ā) [∅]/[ʔ]/[aː]	ب‎ ‌(ப) (b) [b]	ت‎ 1 ‌(த) (t) [t]	ث‎ 1 ‌(த) (t) [t]	ج‎ ‌(ஜ) (j) [d͡ʒ]	چ‎ 2 ‌(ச) (c) [t͡ʃ]
Arabic (Tamil) (Latin) [IPA]	ح‎ ‌(ஹ) (h) [h]	خ‎ ‌(க / ஃக) (k, kh) [k]([x])	د‎ ‌(த) (d) [t]([d])	ڊ‎ 3 ‌(ட) (ṭ) [ʈ]	ذ‎ ‌(ஜ / ஃஜ) (z) [d͡ʒ]([z])	ر‎ ‌(ற) (ṟ) [r]
Arabic (Tamil) (Latin) [IPA]	ڔ‎ ‌(ர) (r) [ɾ]	ز‎ ‌(ஜ / ஃஜ) (z) [d͡ʒ]([z])	س‎ ‌(ஸ) (s) [s]	ش‎ 2 ‌(ச)(ஷ, ஶ) (c, ṣ, ś) [t͡ɕ]/[ʂ~ʃ]	ص‎ ‌(ச) (c) [t͡ʃ]	صٜ‎ 4 ‌(ள) (ḷ) [ɭ]
Arabic (Tamil) (Latin) [IPA]	ض‎ ‌(த) (t) [t]	ۻ‎ 4 ‌(ழ) (ḻ) [ɻ]	ط‎ ‌(த) (t) [t]	ظ‎ ‌(ச) (c) [t͡ʃ]	ع‎ ‌(-) (’) [ʔ]	غ‎ ‌(க) (k, gh) [k]
Arabic (Tamil) (Latin) [IPA]	ࢳ‎ ‌(ங) (ṅ) [ŋ]	ف‎ ‌(ப / ஃப) (f) [f]	ڣ‎ ‌(ப) (p) [p]	ق‎ ‌(க) (k, q) [k]	ك‎ 5 ‌(க) (k) [k]	ࢴ‎ 5 ‌(க) (k) [g]
Arabic (Tamil) (Latin) [IPA]	ل‎ ‌(ல) (m) [l]	م‎ ‌(ம) (n) [m]	ن‎ 6 ‌(ந, ன, ஞ) (n, ṉ, ñ) [n̪]/[n]/[ɲ]	ڹ‎ ‌(ண) (ṇ) [ɳ]	ه‎ ‌(ஹ) (h) [h]	و‎ ‌(வ)(ௌ, ோ, ூ) (v, au, ō, ū) [v]/[aʊ̯][oː][uː]
Arabic (Tamil) (Latin) [IPA]	ي‎ ‌(ய)(ை, ே, ீ) (y, ai, ē, ī) [j]/[aɪ̯][eː][iː]

Notes

1. The letter த, representing the sound [t], has been written with the Arabic letter ت in the beginning of word, geminated, or in combination with other consonants. This letter has been written with the Arabic letter ث in between vowels.
2. The letter ச, representing the sound [t͡ʃ~t͡ɕ], has been written with the Arabic letter چ in the beginning of word, geminated, or after a nasal consonant. This letter has been written with the Arabic letter ش in at the beginning of words and in between vowels. The Arabic letter ش also represents the Tamil letter ஷ, representing the sound [ʂ] and the Tamil letter ஶ representing the sound [ʃ].
3. For when this letter is geminated, i.e. ட்ட, some historic manuscripts used the letter dal with two dots underneath, the modified Arwi letter ڍ. But most manuscripts simply used the letter dal with one dot underneath, and with a gemination diacritic, the letter ڊّ‎.
4. The Arabic letter صٜ has not been used in a widespread manner for representing the Tamil letter ள (representing the sound [ɭ]). Most historic sources use the letter ۻ for this Tamil letter as well as for the Tamil letter ழ (representing the sound [ɻ]).
5. For the Tamil letter க, representing the sound [k~g], the Arabic letter ك is used. Except if this letter is in between vowels, or following a nasal sound, where the letter ࢴ is used.
6. The Tamil letter ஞ representing the sound [ɲ] has usually been written with the Arabic letter ن. In addition, in rare occasions, this sound has been represented by the Arabic letter ݧ‎. This sound doesn't occur at beginning of words.

See also

• Jawi Alphabets
• Swahili language
• Arabi Malayalam
• Arabic Script

References

• Shu’ayb, Tayka. Arabic, Arwi and Persian in Sarandib and Tamil Nadu. Madras: Imāmul 'Arūs Trust, 1993.
• Yunush Ahamed Mohamed Sherif ARABUTTAMIL/ARWI: THE IDENTITY OF THE TAMIL MUSLIMS TJPRC Publication.
• Dr. K. M. A. Ahamed Zubair. The Rise and Decline of Arabu–Tamil Language for Tamil Muslims IIUC STUDIES, 2014
• DR. S.M.M Mazahir. அறபுத் தமிழும் அறபுத்தமிழ் ஆக்கங்களும் 2018

External links

• Arwi: Comments, Questions and Answers
• Islamic Cultural Values of Arwi Southeastern university of Sri Lanka. Research and publication (2014).
• For a cultural synthesis Book review in The Hindu
• Arwi or Arabu-Tamil Book on Arwi
• What is Arwi (Arabic Tamil)?
• Arwi (அரபுத்தமிழ் / لسانالأروي)
• 'Arusi branch of the Qadiri path
• Some Arwi Books in Internet Archive