An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

The astronomical activities that took place from the 8th to the 14th century in the Middle East, Central Asia, North Africa, and Moorish Spain. Arab/Arabic is not meant as an ethnic but rather a linguistic term. In fact a large number of Non-Arab scholars, mainly Persians, Mongols, and Spanish people, wrote their works in Arabic. Even so, many astronomical works were also produced in the other languages of this civilization, especially Persian and in the later centuries Turkish. For example, the main → zijs were originally written in Persian, a notable example being the Zij of Ulugh Beg (c. A.D. 1394-1449), a landmark in precise observations before the Renaissance. Therefore, the term Arabic astronomy is misleading. It also creates a disparity with respect to Western scholars who wrote in Latin. The term "Latin astronomy" is meaningless and as far as these scholars are concerned, the Latin adjective is not specified. For example, the expressions like "the Latin astronomer Copernicus," "the Latin physicist Newton," or "the Latin philosopher Leibniz" are not used. See also → Islamic astronomy.

M.E. arabik, from O.Fr. arabique, from L. Arabicus; → astronomy.