Arwi or ArabuTamil (Arabic: الْلِسَانُ الْأَرْوِيُّ al-lisan al-arwiyy, أَرْوِي arwī;[1]Tamil: அரபுத்தமிழ்arabu-tamil) 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 was used extensively by the Muslim minority of the Tamil Nadu state of India and Sri Lanka.
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.[2] 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 Shaafi and Imaam Abu Hanifa, 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 traditional Tamil Muslim (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.[1]
Vowels
Arwi vowels arranged according to the Tamil order (right to left)
^216 th year commemoration today: Remembering His Holiness Bukhary Thangal Sunday Observer – January 5, 2003. Online versionArchived 2012-10-02 at the Wayback Machine accessed on 2009-08-14
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
