Arabic Tattoos

Arabic tattoo lettering is searched for on the internet every day. Getting this kind of tattoo is exceptionally unique and is quite mystifying. Several people may recognize what they are, but few know what they mean. It is highly advisable to get several opinions when translating from English to Arabic to make certain you are getting the word or phrase you want because there are several very subtle differences in each letter and its place within a word. Something to note is that the Arabic language is written right to left, the opposite of many other written texts. This simply adds to its enchanting persona and sheds more light on as to why someone would want to get Arabic tattoo lettering as their choice in permanent markings.

The Arabic alphabet is the second-most widely used writing system in the world, the first being the Latin alphabet. The Arabic alphabet is the writing system for a number of the languages in Africa and Asia. To adapt to the needs of all of these many languages, the Arabic alphabet had to add new letters and other symbols to its original alphabet. The basic alphabet consists of 28 letters. As well as several different styles of calligraphy that it can be written in, including Hajzi, Kufic, liq, Naskh, Nasta, Raq'ah, Shahmukgi, Sini and Thuluth. Both written and printed Arabic are done so in cursive with many of the letters within a word being connected to their counterpart.

To help better understand the language, you must remember that there is no distinction between upper and lower case letters. In addition, a number of the letters look very similar, but are told apart from each other by dots that are placed above or below the letter's central part, or the I'jam. These dots play a monumental role as they are the key into telling the difference between the letters that represent different sounds. Unlike the writing many of us are accustomed to, the Arabic lettering can substantially change depending on the placement of the letter in the word, whether it be in the beginning, middle, end or stand-alone. Some of the letters resemble each other in all four forms, while others are considerably different. There is one more unique distinction; as opposed to writing a letter twice, as is sometime necessary in other languages, Arabic writing uses a w-shaped sign called shadda, or sadda, above said letter.

The first known text to be written in the Arabic language is dated back to sometime in the late fourth century; however, the first dated is a trilingual inscription at Zebed in Syria dating back to 512 and the very first surviving evidence of Arabic writing is a papyrus dating back to 643. The full structure of the language dates to somewhere around 786 by al-Farahide, which is after the finalization of the distinguishing of the letters and sounds.

Arabic lettering is very distinctive in how it is written compared to many other well-known languages. Furthermore, Arabic tattoo lettering is unsurpassed in its uniqueness. This is not an everyday seen type of tattoo. Now that you know the basics behind the letters and concepts, you are prepared to go and discover the quality of Arabic lettering for your next, or first, tattoo.